Modelling Residents’ Perspectives of Tourism Opposition in US Counties with the Highest Historical Numbers of Reported COVID-19 Cases

Emrullah Erul, Kyle Maurice Woosnam () and Tara J. Denley
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Emrullah Erul: Department of Tourism Management, Izmir Katip Celebi University, Izmir 35620, Turkey
Kyle Maurice Woosnam: Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management Program, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Tara J. Denley: Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management Program, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 24, 1-16

Abstract: This work tests an extended theory of planned behavior model to examine residents’ behavioral intent to oppose tourism living in densely populated US counties with historically high rates of COVID-19 cases. The addition of three constructs serves as antecedents to the traditional theory of planned behavior constructs. Results revealed that passive and active opposition explained 67% of the variance in behavioral intent to oppose tourism. Of the proposed model hypotheses, 14 of the 15 were supported with oppositional attitudes toward tourism, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control explaining 78% and 68% of the variance in passive and active behavioral intent, respectively. This paper contributes several theoretical implications (e.g., to ascertain residents’ opposition to tourism in the context of COVID-19, the current study employed TPB constructs and showed how TPB constructs effective predictors of residents’ intention to oppose tourism). The current study indicates that as the level of residents’ awareness of COVID-19 increases, they will have more negative attitudes, norms, opinions, and intentions toward tourism. Our findings will help inform destination marketing organizations in their efforts to navigate the best steps forward while balancing residents’ health and well-being with much-needed economic recovery.

Keywords: knowledge of COVID-19; oppositional attitudes; subjective norms; perceived behavioral control; behavioral intent to oppose tourism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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