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At present, the whole hospitality and tourism sector is severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and related lockdowns have been producing severe transformations in the industry. Several business reports and academic studies have highlighted that, compared to before the COVID-19 outbreak, tourists will likely choose to visit less crowded tourism destinations, and will tend to prefer accommodation facilities that can deliver their services with reduced face-to-face interactions and guaranteeing fair levels of physical and social distancing. This said, there is only a limited number of scientific studies dealing with this topic so far. This, coupled with the extremely dynamic and turbulent environment we are currently experiencing, urges scholars to further intensify the academic discussion on this area of research. Further examination would give practitioners knowledge to assist them in their decision-making in an era of tourism where everyone seems to be moving towards a ‘new normal’ of unknown duration. The present study was thus conducted to make a contribution to this debate by providing and discussing the results of a factor analysis on a sample of 200 German respondents, to dig into the criteria that travellers use to select the destination and the accommodation for their vacation. Findings contribute to deepen the scientific debate about how tourist behaviour is transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic and, potentially, by any other type of virus that could replicate a similar emphasis on hygiene and safety, as well as on social distancing. Meanwhile, our results will provide policy makers, destination marketers, and accommodation managers with useful information on effectively planning and implementing their service design in order to meet tourists' expectations and needs.