ABSTRACT
The 2019 corona virus disease (COVID-19) is a human tragedy and has a growing impact on the societies, economies, and the businesses around the world. In addition to the various types of the impacts, this outbreak has also led to the feelings of fear and anxiety related to health systems. Pandemic response resulted in to limiting to the non-essential activities including travel unless absolutely urgency involved. Though individual differences in emotional and personality-based variables vary yet, the perception of risk associated with the travel is going to have significant impact on travel behaviour of the tourists. Thus, the associated demand and the future scope of the tourism industry needs research investigation on the behavioural pattern of the tourists as a input variable for resilient strategy. With this backdrop, the present study aims to investigate the tourists'expectations, motivations and intentions to travel post COVID19 outbreak. COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the economy of the world, hitting tourism industry the hardest and disrupting both travel supply and demand. As the consequence of such global adversity, tourists fear and no more wish to travel, especially to the suspected places (Nicholl, 2006). Followed by lockdown of most of the nations impacted by COVID-19 travel restrictions have eased around the world and people are hoping to slowly inch back to their normal lives (Raavya Bhattacharyya,2020). But if they are ready to travel or not still remains a question. Fliggy, Alibaba's online travel platform surveyed a group of people in China to understand their travel expectations and the results show that 59% wanted to travel in 2020 and 14% in 2021. Yet those who want to travel would have some expectations and possess some or other kind of motivations to travel. Therefore, the present study is an attempt to draw upon an expectation, motivation, and intentions (EMI) model in lieu of these variables post COVID-19 situation. The partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique has been employed to process and analyze the data. The study has investigated the effect of individual factors on travel intention as in EMI model. ©Copyright IJHTS.
ABSTRACT
Background and aims: Coronavirus (COVID-19) has surfaced as a global pandemic and has created an unprecedented global demand for medical equipment. The shortage of onsite workforce, need for social distancing and less time available for sourcing have further made it difficult for the governments and the medical professionals to combat the pandemic. This study’s prime objective is to review the advancements in the area of 3D printing to develop medical equipment and explore the potential of 3D printing in addressing the shortage of medical equipment mainly the personal protective equipment (PPE) amidst COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: 3D printing or additive manufacturing has emerged as a new manufacturing process with tremendous potential to develop complex products in short time with minimal human interventions. The paper summarises 3D printing’s potential to serve the increasing need for medical equipment, mainly personal protective equipment (PPE) and ventilator equipment in the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic. Results: The minimum human interventions required to carry out production using 3D printing also make the technology an excellent option to deal with the current situation. Conclusions: The recommendations and opinions presented in the paper shall act as a stimulant to develop components very critical for the pandemic and help save precious lives globally. © 2020, Sociedade Brasileira de Engenharia Biomedica.