Tourists’ preventive travel behaviour during COVID-19: the mediating role of attitudes towards applying non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) while travelling

Abstract

Previous studies that extended the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) with the Health Belief Model (HBM) did not integrate all constructs. To address this research gap, we combined those two theories and the subscale on Domain-Specific Risk-Taking (DOSPERT) to predict tourists’ willingness to apply NPIs against COVID-19 while travelling. The proposed hypotheses on the mediating role of attitudes were tested using structural equation modelling based on a random sampling of the Swiss population (n = 1683). The results indicate that attitudes are the strongest predictor of behavioural intentions to apply NPIs while travelling. Attitude also acts as a mediator between health beliefs and the willingness to apply protective measures voluntary for the next tourism trip. The results permit some managerial implications to be suggested for supporting preventive travel behaviour.