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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.

This study aims to examine the motivating factors that influence intentions to book shared rooms through Airbnb as well as the moderating effects of past experience and gender.

This study analyzed data from 214 leisure travelers who had previously stayed in shared rooms through Airbnb and 207 participants who had not yet experienced Airbnb. A covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) technique was performed to test the significance of attitude, subjective norms, extroverted personality, perceived risk and perceived price. Furthermore, the study explored past experience and gender as moderators.

The results suggest that attitude, subjective norms and perceived risk significantly impacted intentions to book shared rooms through Airbnb. However, perceived price was not a significant determinant. In addition, this study verified that past experience and gender moderated the relationship between important referents and attitude/booking intentions.

This study gives Airbnb hosts a better understanding of travelers who choose Airbnb’s shared rooms. In addition, hosts who offer shared rooms can implement marketing strategies and complementary activities to not only reduce the risk of booking shared rooms but also attract more travelers.

While previous studies examined Airbnb as one homogeneous type of accommodation, this study focused on Airbnb’s shared rooms. A clearer understanding of consumers who intend to book Airbnb’s shared rooms will enable hosts to develop effective marketing strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically test an existing conceptual model from Mak et al. (2012a, 2012b) to discern which factors have the most influence on food choices when travelers visit destinations with different options, i.e. local foods, other than those available in their home environments.

The quantitative study surveyed 330 travelers and used descriptive analyses of all the variables involved. A hierarchical linear regression was calculated to predict for the dependent variable of local cuisine consumption, based on the independent variables of culture and religion, socio-demographic factors, motivational factors, food trait personality and exposure effect/past experience.

Culture, motivational factors and food-related personality traits were consistently significant predictors of local food consumption.

Limitations include using an English-only online questionnaire and self-reported bias. The impacting delimitation relates to data collection from US travelers and thus limiting generalizability findings.

The study explained factors involved in travelers’ decision to consume local foods at a destination. Government, tourism-related organizations, producers and service providers gain information to improve products, increase interest, create additional employment opportunities, increase tax revenues that assist local communities and increase consumption of local foods, products and services.

The limited availability of research on this topic prompted the interest of the researchers. Mak et al. (2012b) provide a conceptual model that was first tested empirically in this study. It presents a five factors impacting tourist food consumption at a destination. Local food consumption of tourists was tested using the aforementioned conceptual model.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of tourists’ sociodemographic characteristics on their perception of destination personality and emotional experience on the example of the city break tourism destination.

To examine this relationship, survey research was conducted on a sample of 203 national and international tourists who visited Novi Sad, the second-largest city in Serbia.

Research results confirmed the role of travelers’ sociodemographic variables in shaping their emotional experience and destination personality perception. The findings pointed out significant divergences in the perception of emotional experience in the case of respondents’ education level, previous visits to the city and travel companion. On the other hand, the analysis showed that repeat visitors significantly differed from first-time visitors regarding destination personality perception. In addition, differences in both destination personality and emotional experience assessment were found between national and international city break travelers.

The current study is first to focus on the role of travelers’ sociodemographic variables in simultaneous modeling of their perception of destination personality and emotional experience within the city break destination context. Besides, results revealed some new influencing factors of both destination personality and emotional experience perception, thus contributing to the existing tourism literature. In addition, this paper offers useful practical implications for city break marketers to adapt promotional activities, more effectively present the desired brand personality of the city to different sociodemographic categories of tourists and sustain repeat tourists’ perception of Positive surprise.

This study aims to identify the individual and trip characteristics that are associated with intention to use peer-to-peer accommodation, including past experience (users vs non-users), accommodation preferences, traveler personality and tripographic variables.

To compare Airbnb users and non-users, quantitative research was conducted to test for group differences. A questionnaire was designed and administered face-to-face in major tourist areas. Quota sampling was used to ensure comparable samples of Airbnb users and non-users.

While Airbnb users and non-users expressed few differences in their demographics and perceived importance of accommodation attributes, the two groups vary in their perception of Airbnb and evaluation of Airbnb compared to hotels, suggesting some positive and negative changes after experiencing Airbnb. Respondents who were more allocentric were more likely to use Airbnb. Hotels were preferred for traveling with family as well as shorter trips, while Airbnb was preferred for traveling with friends as well as longer trips.

This study identified several challenges for Airbnb and other sharing platforms, including consumers’ security concerns, potential decrease in the likelihood of repeat usage and low likelihood of using Airbnb when traveling with family.

While previous studies focused more on existing customers of peer-to-peer accommodation, this study compared users and non-users and identified key differences in their perceptions. The use of traveler personality and tripographic variables to examine intention to use Airbnb provides a unique perspective to consider Airbnb as an “allocentric destination” and the type of trips that are more compatible with the Airbnb experience.

People have unconscious motives which affects their decision-making and associated behavior. The paper describes a study using thematic apperception test (TAT) to measure how unconscious motives influence travelers' interpretations and preferences toward alternative tours and hotels. Using the TAT, the present study explores the relationships between three unconscious needs: (1) achievement, (2) affiliation, and (3) power and preferences for four package tours (adventure, culture, business, and escape tours) and for seven hotel identities (quality, familiarity, location, price, friendliness, food and beverage, and cleanliness and aesthetics). The present study conducts canonical correlation analyses to examine the relationships between unconscious needs and preferences for package tours and hotel identities using data from 467 university students. The study scores 2,438 stories according to the TAT manual to identify unconscious needs. The findings indicate that (1) people with a high need for affiliation prefer an experience based on cultural values and hotels that are conveniently located, (2) individuals with a high need for power indicate a preference for high prices and good value for their money, and (3) people with a high need for achievement prefer a travel experience with adventure as a motivation. The study findings are consistent with previous research of McClelland (1990), Wilson (2002), and Woodside et al. (2008) in exploring impacts of the unconscious levels of human need.

Independent travelers are those vacationers who have booked only a minimum of their transportation and accommodation arrangements prior to departure on the vacation. Independent travel is an important and growing sector of worldwide tourism. Choice of vacation itinerary for the independent vacation represents a complex series of decisions regarding purchase of multiple leisure and tourism services. This chapter builds and tests a model of independent traveler decision-making for choice of vacation itinerary. The research undertaken employs a two-phase, inductive–deductive case study design. In the deductive phase, the researcher interviewed 20 travel parties vacationing in New Zealand for the first time. The researcher interviewed respondents at both the beginning and the end of their New Zealand vacations. The study compares pre-vacation research and plans, and actual vacation behaviors, on a case-by-case basis. The study examines case study narratives and quantitative measures of crucial variables. The study tests two competing models of independent traveler decision-making, using a pattern-matching procedure. This embedded research design results in high multi-source, multi-method validity for the supported model. The model of the Independent Vacation as Evolving Itinerary suggests that much of the vacation itinerary experienced in independent travel is indeed unplanned, and that a desire to experience the unplanned is a key hedonic motive for independent travel. Rather than following a fixed itinerary, the itinerary of an independent vacation evolves as the vacation proceeds. The independent traveler takes advantage of serendipitous opportunities to experience a number of locations, attractions and activities that they had neither actively researched nor planned.

One of the most well-known, seminal models in the tourism marketing field is the one proposed more than 40 years ago by Stanley 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 on Plog’s psychographic model has yielded varied, inconclusive results, and the postulates of his conceptual framework are still subject to academic scrutiny. While some empirical investigations have corroborated the model, others have found partial or no support for it. Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to offer an exhaustive review of 26 studies in the literature which have employed Plog´s venturesomeness concept to examine travellers’ personality traits, attitudes, and behaviour, as a way to synthetise empirical findings and draw conclusions from the cumulative results. A discussion of the model’s contribution to the current body of knowledge and managerial implications for tourism marketing practitioners are presented.

Destination recommender systems need to become truly human‐centric in their design and functionality. This requires a profound understanding of human interactions with technology as well as human behavior related to information search and decision‐making in the context of travel and tourism. This paper seeks to review relevant theories that can support the development and evaluation of destination recommender systems and to discuss how quantitative research can inform such theory building and testing.

Based on a review of information search and decision‐making literatures, a framework for the development of destination recommender systems is proposed and the implications for the design and evaluation of human‐centric recommender systems are discussed.

A variety of factors that influence the information search and processing strategies that influence interactions with a destination recommender system are identified. This reveals a great need for data‐driven models to inform recommender system processes.

The proposed framework provides a basis for future research and development in the area of destination recommender systems. The paper concludes that the success of a specific destination recommender system will depend largely on its ability to anticipate and respond creatively to transformations in the personal and situational needs of its users. Such system intelligence needs to be based on empirical data analyzed with sophisticated quantitative methods. The importance of recommender systems in tourism marketing is also discussed.