Functions of Currency before and after COVID-19: Is Bitcoin Sustainable for Tourism?

Hyojin Kim, Sangmook Lee and Gumkwang Bae
Additional contact information
Hyojin Kim: Department of Tourism Management, Mokpo National University, Yeongsan-ro 1666, Cheonggyemyeon, Muan-gun 58554, Korea
Sangmook Lee: Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Kyungsung University, 309 Suyeong-ro, Nam-gu, Busan 48434, Korea
Gumkwang Bae: Department of Foodservice Management, Dong-Eui University, 176 Eomgwangno, Busanjin-gu, Busan 47340, Korea

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 24, 1-17

Abstract: The specific purposes of this study are (1) to analyze whether there is a difference in the recognition of tourists in the functions of currency according to the type of currency spent by tourists before and after COVID-19; (2) to identify why tourists employ Bitcoin among the functions of currency; and (3) to identify tourists’ intentions to continue to using Bitcoin according to the degree of recognition of the function of virtual currency in Korea. Both quantitative and qualitative methods, including a one-way analysis of variance, a paired t -test, a simple regression analysis, and an in-depth interview, were employed. One of the conclusions implies that tourists in a tourism destination still prefer paying with cash rather than paying with card or virtual currency. Moreover, the study discovered that tourists count more on virtual currency and prepare for a future with virtual currency when a factor that has an unstable impact on social economy, such as COVID-19, happens. As to the functions of Bitcoin, tourists appeared to place a great importance on its storage, value, satisfaction, convenience, and investment. Additionally, the study showed that tourists intend to continue using Bitcoin due to the same satisfaction, convenience, and investment attributed to Bitcoin. More discussion and implications were provided.

Keywords: virtual currency; Bitcoin; functions of currency; COVID-19; tourists (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 (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/24/13572/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/24/13572/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:24:p:13572-:d:697780

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().