Socio-Economic Factors Influencing Travel Decision-Making of Poles and Nepalis during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Michał Roman, Kumar Bhatta, Monika Roman and Prakash Gautam
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Michał Roman: Department of Tourism, Social Communication and Counselling, Institute of Economics and Finance, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Nowoursynowska 166, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland
Kumar Bhatta: Institute for Asian and Oceanian Studies, Kyushu University, Motooka 744, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan
Monika Roman: Department of Logistics, Institute of Economics and Finance, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Nowoursynowska 166, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland
Prakash Gautam: Faculty of Business Administration, Soka University, 1 Chome-236 Tangimachi, Hachioji, Tokyo 192-8577, Japan

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 20, 1-16

Abstract: This study aimed to present the socio-economic conditions, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and their effects on travel decision-making. Data were collected in January and February 2021 using an online questionnaire survey. We compared the data on personal attributes, socio-economic factors, and organizational-related factors of 957 Polish and 181 Nepalese respondents. We found that people would like to travel, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, in both countries; however, tourism in developed countries is expected to revive earlier than in developing countries. Tourists chose natural and rustic areas for travel destinations and family members and friends as travel companions in both countries. Similarly, the use of travel agencies decreased significantly as compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic in both countries. Levels of income and travel motivation were observed to be different between the two countries. Respondents from both countries similarly believed that the overall cost of travel had increased during the pandemic. Therefore, policymakers and authorities of tourism destinations should jointly introduce discounted or subsidized packages targeting family members.

Keywords: travel; tourism; pandemic; crisis; COVID-19; respondents; Poland; Nepal; global change; decision-making (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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