Perceived Impacts of Covid-19 in Conference Tourism: A Partial Least Squares (pls) Analysis

The purpose of this article is to explore the perceived impacts of COVID-19 in participating in academic events, relating the attractiveness of destinations and tourist opportunities as pull factors. Remote communication technologies have also been put into perspective to understand how they can influence future participation in events. A partial least squares (PLS) was used to test both research model and hypotheses. This study supports that COVID-19 has profoundly affected participation in events and has an impact on the attractiveness of the destination and tourist opportunities. During the pandemic context, remote communication technologies have replaced physical presence at events and are expected to continue to be present in future events. However, it is anticipated that technology will not permanently replace physical presence at events, due to the social character it represents. Also, destination attractiveness and tourist opportunities will be important in the decision to participate in physical events. This article addresses the current topic of COVID-19 and the impact on the future of physical events and gives some indicators that may contribute to a better planning of destinations in the recovery of this sector, namely by enhancing the tourist attractiveness of destinations as pull factor.

Halal destination attributes and revisits intention: the role of destination attractiveness and perceived value

Purpose>The growing numbers of Muslims visiting halal destinations motivated this study to explore halal destination attributes and revisit intention. This study aims to investigate how halal destination attributes affect destination attractiveness. Hence, it identifies the influence of halal destination attributes on perceived value, including functional and emotional value. It also verifies the effect of destination attractiveness on both functional value and emotional value. Finally, this framework verifies the effect of functional value and emotional value on revisit intention.Design/methodology/approach>This study collects data from visitors who have visited a halal destination located in three cities of Central Java Province in the past two years (2019–2020) using purposive sampling methods. A total of 314 respondents participated in this study and the data are analyzed by using structural equation modeling.Findings>The result showed that halal destination attributes positively and significantly impact destination attractiveness. Moreover, halal destination attributes positively and significantly affect both functional and emotional value. Destination attractiveness positively and significantly affects functional value, as well as emotional value. Concerning the effect of functional value and emotional value on revisit intention, only emotional value positively and significantly affects revisit intention while functional value does not.Originality/value>This study contributes to city tourism by elucidating halal destination attributes based on the means-ends theory. The results of this study reported the importance of halal destination attributes and the role of halal destination attractiveness and emotional value in enhancing Muslim travelers’ revisit intention to halal destination.

Crowding and vaccination: Tourist's two-sided perception on crowding and the moderating effect of vaccination status during COVID-19 pandemic

Crowding used to be a double-edged sword in the tourism industry. However, the COVID-19 pandemic seems to make the disadvantage of crowding more obvious. Here, we investigated the relationship between vaccination status (including vaccination completeness and willingness), crowding perception, popular perception, destination attractiveness, and loyalty based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response model. Empirical research data were collected through a survey of 535 tourists to Nanjing's Confucian Temple, China, which is known for its tremendous travel volume. The results show that both crowding perception and popular perception significantly affect loyalty, but with opposite signs. Moreover, if tourists have been vaccinated, the positive effect of destination attractiveness on loyalty will intensify, meaning that the rarely investigated variable vaccination status indeed plays a moderating role.