Peacefulness at home: impacts on international travel
International Journal of Tourism Cities
ISSN: 2056-5607
Article publication date: 13 June 2018
Issue publication date: 30 November 2018
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of peacefulness in the tourists’ country of origin in their main decisions and behaviours when travelling internationally.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 600 international tourists from 49 countries was divided into five groups according to each respondent’s belonging to a country with a specific level of peacefulness, assessed by the Global Peace Index, to test differences in international travel decision and behaviour patterns.
Findings
Travel safety is a critical issue to most tourists, while the peacefulness level of travellers’ country of origin is an important key factor for understanding different travel behaviours and safety perceptions held when going on an international trip, namely, regarding involvement, risk and safety/insecurity perceptions.
Research limitations/implications
This is one of the few studies investigating the impact of peacefulness in the tourist’s country of origin on travel decisions and behaviours, based on the Global Peace Index. Additionally, this study responds to the call of the Prospect Theory regarding general consumption contexts, and adds to the Experiential Consumer Perspective, here applied to tourism consumption.
Practical implications
This study provides guidance to destination and tourism industry managers to attract and segment their market according to tourists’ country of origin, in accordance with its respective level of peacefulness as defined by the Global Peace Index, especially in destinations more affected by terrorism, war, political turmoil, crime and other safety risks.
Originality/value
No published study has tested the impact of peacefulness at home on tourists’ international travel behaviours and decisions yet.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work is financed by national funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, I.P., under the projects UID/Multi/04016/2016, UID/ECO/00124/2013 and by POR Lisboa under the project LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-007722. Furthermore the authors would like to thank the Instituto Politécnico de Viseu and CI&DETS.
Citation
Seabra, C., Kastenholz, E., Abrantes, J.L. and Reis, M. (2018), "Peacefulness at home: impacts on international travel", International Journal of Tourism Cities, Vol. 4 No. 4, pp. 413-428. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJTC-10-2017-0050
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, International Tourism Studies Association