Tourism and the COVID-(Mis)infodemic

Abstract

In addition to being formally defined as a pandemic, COVID-19 has been classified as an “infodemic” and “(mis)infodemic.” As an “infodemic,” the information environment on COVID-19 is constantly evolving, with emerging scientific findings, political responses, media coverage, and individual impressions all shared on social media. Initial positions on behaviors and potential treatments were presented and then discarded because of low efficacy or improper research procedures. Further, there has been a fragmented geopolitical response with differing political systems exhibiting varying approaches to decision making and health outcomes, which has lead to confusion of the public. As a “misinfodemic,” COVID-19 discussions have also attracted actors seeking to share misinformation enabled and exacerbated by social media networks, which include willful distortions as well as conspiracy theories. Combined, this (mis)infodemic can change risk perceptions of travel, resulting in travel patterns based on technological, regulatory, and perceived behavioral homophily.

COVID-19 vaccine confidence and tourism at the early stage of a voluntary mass vaccination campaign: a PMT segmentation analysis

“…A surprisingly high number of the LCG members (29%) indicated that they would never take a COVID-19 vaccine. This suggests not only a relationship between vaccine history and COVID-19 vaccine confidence but might also hint at ideological positions or overall misinformation at the base of lower confidence which can influence risk perceptions and efficacy perceptions (Williams et al, 2020). These might be especially important factors to consider as those individuals might be hard to convince to undertake the vaccine, which might jeopardize the success of the vaccination campaign.…”

“…Milano et al, 2011;Xiang & Gretzel, 2010), issues related to misinformation appear relatively limited in the current pandemic context (Rather, 2021). Williams et al (2020) hypothesize that with the release of the COVID-19 vaccines, attitudes towards the vaccine take-up could have significant impacts on travel intentions. Accordingly, tourists may gravitate towards destinations that adopted a certain type of vaccine, certain types of rules and restrictions, and countries that are more or less vaccine-hesitant in their policies (p. 2).…”

Are airline workers planning career turnover in a post-COVID-19 world? Assessing the impact of risk perception about virus infection and job instability

“…The hospitality and tourism businesses have been undergoing a severe crisis ever since the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak ( Bajrami et al, 2021 ; Bufquin et al, 2021 ; Chua et al, 2020 ; Williams et al, 2020 ). The airline industry has been especially hard-hit by the pandemic, leading to a steep drop in financial performance as well as an increase in employee career turnover ( Abate et al, 2020 ; Pereira & De Mello, 2021 ; Sobieralski, 2020 ).…”

Are Tourism and Energy Consumption Linked? Evidence from Australia

“…A sharp decline in international air traffic, empty sea-beaches, and football matches without spectators are the visible indications. Moreover, mandatory vaccination is not acceptable to all, and inadequate or false information about COVID related rules and regulations also impact the industry [29]. However, after the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is likely to witness a considerable rise in tourism growth, which could help nations recover from economic crises.…”