Influential Factors for Sustainable Intention to Visit a National Park during COVID-19: The Extended Theory of Planned Behavior with Perception of Risk and Coping Behavior

Bo-Hyun Seong, Youngseok Choi and Hyojin Kim
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Bo-Hyun Seong: Department of Co-Prosperity Research, Chungbuk Research Institute, Cheongju 28517, Korea
Youngseok Choi: Department of Strategic Planning, Incheon Tourism Organization, Gaetbeol-ro 12, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon 21999, Korea
Hyojin Kim: Department of Tourism Management, Mokpo National University, Yeongsan-ro 1666, Cheonggye-myeon, Muan-gun 58554, Korea

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 24, 1-17

Abstract: Despite the danger of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, visits to natural tourism destinations such as national parks are continuing, though people are using less congested trails or minimizing personal contact. Given the danger from COVID-19, the purpose of our study was to use an expanded theory of planned behavior to analyze whether tourists intend to continue to visit national parks. Another purpose for our study was to compare an extant research model based on the theory of planned behavior with the extended model we developed. Frequency analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and other statistical techniques, such as correlation analysis, parsimonious fit index, and squared multiple correlations were employed according to the appropriate objectives. Additionally, the number of 351 participants joined the survey. Our study found that perception of risk of COVID-19 negatively affected attitude and perceived behavioral control in both models. Moreover, the perceived behavioral control had a positive effect on coping behavior. Given the analytical results, our study presents not only theoretical implications for understanding the behavior of those who visit national parks, but also practical implications for operation and management of national parks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; perception of risk; coping behavior; extended theory of planned behavior; sustainable intention (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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