ABSTRACT
This study examines the effects of tourism on local residents' quality of life, happiness and life satisfaction. It also examines how locals' perceptions of the level of risk the COVID-19 pandemic poses on a destination moderates those effects utilizing data collected from residents of a mature tourism destination. The results suggest that economic benefits have significant influence on happiness while environmental and socio-cultural benefits influence quality of life perceptions. Findings also indicate a moderating effect of COVID-19 risk perceptions in the relationship between tourism and happiness and quality of life. These findings suggest that the perceived risk of COVID-19 pandemic on the destination affects individuals' both affective and cognitive evaluations;therefore, it serves as an effective factor in decision-making.
ABSTRACT
Around mid-December 2019, Wuhan, one of the most populous cities in China, experienced an outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (Yang et al., 2020). The World Health Organization declared the outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern on January 30, 2020, and a pandemic on March 11, 2020. On December 15, 2020, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDP) reported 71 503 614 cases and 1 612 833 deaths worldwide. The negative impacts of COVID-19 are not only limited to the loss of human lives, but also include short- and long-term social, economic and political effects. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2020), for example, forecasts that a long-lasting and more intensive COVID-19 outbreak is likely to drop global growth to 1.5 percent in 2020, which is half the projected rate of growth prior to the outbreak, with implications for international tourism. Similarly, the International Monetary Fund forecasts that the COVID-19 outbreak could cause a global recession that could be worse than the one triggered by the global financial crisis of 2008-09. © Dogan Gursoy, Mehmet Sarıışık, Robin Nunkoo and Erhan Boğan 2021.
ABSTRACT
Offering a comprehensive understanding of the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for the tourism and hospitality industry, this book discusses the topic from economic, sociological and psychological perspectives. Critical case studies are used to explore both micro impacts on individuals involved in the industry and governmental and international responses to issues posed by the pandemic more broadly. © Dogan Gursoy, Mehmet Sarıışık, Robin Nunkoo and Erhan Boğan 2021.