The Role of COVID-19 Vaccine Perception, Hope, and Fear on the Travel Bubble Program

Abstract

The travel bubble program presented an appealing strategy for reopening international travel safely. However, a full vaccination regime is the foremost prerequisite of the program. Therefore, vaccination and the travel bubble are inextricably linked. This study investigated the roles of perceived vaccine efficacy, attitude towards the COVID-19 vaccine, and attitude toward the travel bubble on travel bubble intention. More importantly, the study also examined the mediating role of hope and fear among unvaccinated Korean adults between 20 and 29 years old. A total of 535 samples were collected to test the proposed conceptual model using structural equation modeling. In general, the results supported the proposed hypotheses. Notably, the intention to travel to a bubble destination was explained by 57% of the variance. Furthermore, hope mediated the relationship between vaccine attitude and travel bubble intention. Whereas fear mediated the relationship between perceived vaccine efficacy and intention. Hence, the findings suggest doubts around the vaccine efficacy and that a positive attitude towards the vaccine also install hope among the research samples.

Antecedents of Booster Vaccine Intention for Domestic and International Travel

“…Importantly, the results suggested that the strong intention toward booster vaccination in the study sample was the result of individuals' beliefs and moral obligations towards themselves and others. Eventually, the strong intention toward booster vaccination led to a strong intention to travel internationally, which was consistent with previous studies about the correlation between vaccination and international travel [61,67]. The study's findings, however, showed that there is no connection between the desire for immunization and domestic travel.…”

“…The intention has been defined as a person's proclivity to engage in a specific behavior [60]. Travel intention is defined as the probability and engagement towards the notion of traveling, and it is influenced by a variety of circumstances [61]. The cognitive elements that influenced people's intention to receive booster COVID-19 vaccine for international and democratic travel are the topic of this study.…”

“…For instance, Ekinci and his colleagues discovered that a person's attitude regarding COVID-19 immunizations has a bigger impact on their intention to get the vaccine as opposed to how much they wish to travel [66]. Additionally, the best predictor of the desire to vaccinate for travel-related reasons was found to be vaccination status and opinions regarding the efficiency of the COVID-19 vaccine [61]. Therefore, vaccinated people who think vaccines are safe and effective are likely to have another booster shot if it allows them to travel.…”

“…The NAM structures were also measured using Kiatkawsin's items [46]. In addition, the researchers used measures that had previously been validated in previous studies for both domestic and foreign travel intention [61]. The adopted items were then tweaked to better fit the context of this study, and the demographic questions were added to the survey's final part.…”

Virtual Educational Intervention of Craftswomen Working with Native Peruvian Cotton during COVID-19 for Reactivating the Artisian Tourism

“…In addition, a prerequisite for the craftswomen to reactivate their businesses was to have all the doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. According to [33], the attitude and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccination increased the level of hope and showed a strong ability to support tourism revival [34]. It is concluded that vaccination against COVID-19 increases the likelihood of travel; therefore, vaccination boosts tourism participation and, thus, the recovery of the tourism industry.…”