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This study aims to empirically investigate solo travel behavior, comparing decision-making, destination choice, motivations, perceived experiences and constraints between the pre-pandemic and post-pandemic eras.

Using a mixed-methods approach, the study combines quantitative and qualitative data to enhance reliability and flexibility. An online survey attracted 250 respondents, providing demographic data and pandemic-related insights, complemented by eight in-depth interviews. Qualitative content analysis was used to extract key findings on motivations, constraints and destination choices.

The findings reveal that, pre-pandemic, independence and flexibility were key motivators for solo travel, with safety and budget as significant constraints. During the pandemic, half of the respondents continued solo travel, mainly within Europe, facing constraints related to destination choice and health concerns. Post-pandemic, solo travel interest resurged, emphasizing unchanged motivations but reduced concerns over companionship and planning. The study identifies a “traveling for revenge” trend post-pandemic, showcasing a desire to overcome constraints imposed during the pandemic.

The study contributes original insights into the nuanced changes in solo travel behavior due to the COVID-19 pandemic, offering a deeper understanding of solo travelers' evolving mindsets. It is one of the few studies to examine the pandemic's impact on solo traveling, providing short-term shifts in motivations and constraints with implications for the travel industry.

This study aims to explore what may have contributed to risk-taking travel behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic and what may be the drivers of satisfaction and intention to travel again. The study compares travelers based on their travel purposes (business, pleasure and visiting friends and relatives [VFR]) and explore the influence of subjective well-being received from their travel activities.

Data from a structured survey of 323 US residents who traveled during the COVID-19 pandemic were collected on MTurk. Respondents were asked travel behavior questions related to their favorite trips and to rate several multi-item scales measuring the benefits expected and received from their trip, the trip’s contribution to their positive mental and subjective psychological well-being, as well as their satisfaction with the trip and intention to travel in the future. In addition, personality measures focused on risk-taking, thrill-seeking and self-confidence, as well as additional risk-related concepts of optimism bias, probability neglect and proximity to self.

Data analysis revealed some differences among respondents who traveled for business, pleasure and VFR purposes. Business travelers were more risk takers and thrill seekers; pleasure travelers achieved more well-being benefits from their favorite trips during the pandemic; however, VFR travelers’ satisfaction and intention to go on similar trips were explained more by the benefits they received from their favorite trips.

Although several studies addressed consumers’ travel motivation during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a lack of empirical research comparing the characteristics of travelers based on their travel purposes, as well as their sociodemographics, personality traits and the expected and perceived well-being benefits from traveling.

One of the most well-known, seminal models in the tourism field is the one proposed 50 years ago by Stanley C. Plog. His venturesomeness model has been widely cited in journal articles, textbooks, and has also been used as a reference for planning and designing tourism marketing projects. However, empirical research using Plog's psychographics has yielded varied results, some of which have corroborated his model, while others have found partial or no support for some postulates. Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to offer an exhaustive review of 47 studies in the literature which have employed Plog's venturesomeness concept to examine travelers' personality traits, attitudes, and behavior, synthetizing empirical findings and drawing conclusions from the cumulative results. A discussion of the model's contribution to the current body of knowledge, managerial implications for tourism practitioners, and directions for future research are presented.

This paper examines the post-COVID-19 travel intentions to Kenya among Hong Kong outbound travelers using the theory of planned behavior (TPB) over three different time horizons of 1, 5, and 10 years.

An extension was made by including two new constructs of perceived destination image and travel constraints. A cross-sectional sample of Hongkongers was surveyed. Data were collected using a self-administrated bilingual (English and Chinese) online survey. Exploratory factor analysis, linear regression and mediation analysis were conducted to test the research model.

The findings from 216 Hongkongers reveal that different combinations of the four constructs, namely, perceived behavioral control, attitude, subjective norms, and destination image, share a positive effect on individuals' travel intention to Kenya over the three different time horizons. Travel constraints act as a significant negative mediator on the four constructs in predicting travel intention to Kenya among Hongkongers.

The results provide useful insight to Kenya's destination marketing organization (DMO) and Hong Kong outbound travel agencies to integrate prominent elements into marketing strategies to arouse travel intention and expand their business prospects, which will also accelerate tourism recovery in the post-pandemic era.

By integrating two extended variables into the TPB model, this study makes a contribution by overcoming the deficiency of the original theory.

Solo travel is one of the fastest-growing tourism segments, especially among women. This study aims to identify which research topics of interest are more evident in solo female travelers (SFTs) and provide future researchers directions to explore some other research areas in SFTs.

Adopting the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses, the searched keywords included “female travel*” OR “women travel*” AND solo, extracted from Web of Science, Scopus, Emerald and ProQuest databases conducted in English.

Out of the 163 initial records, 25 papers were included. The reviews revealed four research topics that are more evident in SFT studies, namely, push and pull factors, perceived risks and travel constraints, risk management and negotiation strategy and travel experience. More work is required on SFTs beyond the existing research streams.

The papers selected for this study were chosen based on the review’s selection criteria and might omit other SFT studies.

This paper contributes to uncovering the literature on SFTs to date.

People continue to become more liberated and individualised day by day. They look for ways to somehow get out of any situation that restricts them, tend to get rid of their typical holiday patterns and travel alone, without being stuck within anyone else's borders, precisely as they want. In addition, people can travel alone to discover themselves, meet different cultures, relieve stress and learn new skills. Women travel alone more than men, although they face more difficulties than men. The experiences of women solo travellers suggest that this form of travel can provide a meaningful foundation for advancing gender equality. By challenging gender roles and expectations, empowering women to assert their autonomy and agency and creating opportunities for community-building and solidarity, solo travel can help to transform social norms and promote gender equity.

This chapter aims to build a body of knowledge that will have a widespread impact based on available data on the relationship of women solo travellers to gender equality. It also examines the effects of women solo travellers on gender equality based on secondary data sources. This chapter, designed as conceptual research with descriptive analysis and document analysis, is important in revealing what the indirect gains of women solo travellers can be for gender equality, the fifth of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Sustainable Development Goals.

This paper aims to explore the effectiveness of 360-degree virtual reality (VR) videos compared to traditional preview modes in shaping customer perceptions and behavioral intentions toward the hospitality service provider. Specifically, the study investigates how self-construal moderates this relationship, offering novel and nuanced understanding of the customer decision-making process in the hospitality sector.

Three experiments were carried out. Study 1 examined the impact of preview modes on customers’ behavioral intentions. Study 2 examined the psychological mechanism of mental imagery and being hooked in the relationship between preview modes and behavioral intentions. Study 3 examined the moderating role of self-construal in the relationship between preview modes and behavioral intentions.

The study findings revealed that 360-degree VR videos are more effective than traditional preview modes in determining customers’ behavioral intentions. Mental imagery and being hooked explain this relationship. Furthermore, customers with highly independent self-construal evaluate 360-degree VR videos more favorably, while those with highly interdependent self-construal evaluate traditional preview modes more positively.

The research indicates that adopting VR applications can offer competitive advantage for hospitality service providers. The study findings provide hospitality providers with insights to tailor their marketing strategies by selecting preview modes that align with the psychological profiles of the customers.

The originality of the study lies in its pioneering efforts to explore how self-construal shapes customer responses to different preview modes. Furthermore, this study reveals the importance of psychological constructs in understanding the impact of VR applications on customer behaviors.

The use of smartphone applications is the primary means by which modern technology improves the experiences of tourists in the tourism industry by bringing novel and superior features. The purpose of this study is to look into and examine the factors that affect tourists’ intention to use technology when looking for information in areas of tourism.

This study quantitatively uses online surveys. A total number of 315 questionnaires were collected from the tourism industry in Saudi Arabia. Partial least squares-structural equations model is used to analyze the data to evaluate the measurement and structural models.

Results of this study reveal that attitude, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived enjoyment significantly and positively influence the intention of tourists, while customer relationship management and personal innovativeness in technology are insignificant. Furthermore, customer relationship management and personal innovativeness in technology indirectly impact tourists’ intentions.

This study offers novel insights by comprehensively analyzing the factors that influence tourists' intention to adopt technology in the context of destination information searches. Finding new avenues, the research emphasizes the distinct functions of customer relationship management, personal innovativeness in technology and enjoyment, offering insightful viewpoints for improving technology integration in the tourism industry.

As the tourism industry continues to evolve and adapt to changing consumer demands, automated systems and artificial intelligence have gained significant attention. However, concerns related to ethical, social and environmental aspects have arisen alongside the benefits offered by these technologies. This chapter explores the emerging challenges surrounding the integration of robots and self-service technology in responsible and creative tourism.

The aim of this research is to explore the relationship between destination supply-side factors, visitor demand-side factors and the role of local government authorities in supporting the drive tourism market with effective interventions. A mixed methods approach was used to gather qualitative data from 14 destination stakeholders, which informed the development of a survey of 397 drive tourists to the Atherton Tablelands, in the far north of Australia. The findings identified stakeholder concerns about fragmented regional promotions by different regional entities, weakened destination branding and infrastructure needs. Drive tourist surveys indicated that although the destination provides a competitive tourism experience, there were concerns about the availability of information. This research highlights the danger of destination disunity, and the theoretical and practical contributions of the learning destination concept to understanding the importance of destination-wide, stakeholder collaboration, although it may be difficult to implement.