Segmenting Sentiment: Categorizing Keen and Averse Travellers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author Bios (50 Words for each Author)

Dr. Michael W. Lever is a Lecturer and Post-Doctoral Researcher from the University of Guelph in the School of Hospitality, Food and Tourism Management. His research explores digital marketing and destination brand advocacy. He is a full-time reviewer for the Journal of Travel Research and a TTRA Canada board member.

Dr. Michael Mulvey is a marketing professor at the Telfer School of Management and a researcher at the LIFE Research Institute at uOttawa. He is an expert on branding, consumer trends, and marketing strategy. His current research focuses on developing age-friendly business practices in the retail and travel industries.

Dr. Statia Elliot is Director of University of Guelph’s School of Hospitality, Food and Tourism Management. She teaches graduate courses, researches destination image, is a Fellow of the Ontario Hostelry Institute, Chair of the Ontario Tourism Education Corporation Board, and board member of TTRA and Women in Tourism and Hospitality.

Michel Dubreuil is the Manager of Research, Consumer and Market Intelligence with Destination Canada. He designs and develops economic analysis reports, the destination management framework, and forecasts for the Canadian tourism sector. Michel represents Canada on the United Nations World Tourism Organization Committee on the Statistics and Tourism Satellite Account.

Abstract (150 Words)

The COVID-19 virus has devastated the Canadian tourism economy. Understanding residents' attitudes toward travel in the current economic climate can help destination management organizations better prepare a pathway to recovery. This study seeks to delineate Canadians' travel safety attitudes to support this recovery by analyzing Destination Canada’s mid-November omnibus study which surveyed 1,819 Canadians. This study uses Latent Class Analysis to model heterogeneity in travel safety sentiment among Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic and to profile the characteristics of people with different travel safety dispositions. The cluster names are interpreted by the authors and the reported cluster sizes include Typical Canadians (43.4%), Domestic Travel-ready (23.5%), Travel-averse (17. 2%), and Unfettered Travellers (15.9%). These findings confirm the presence of variances in travel safety sentiments across Canadian segments. Further, this study found significant differences in travel safety evaluations by age, education, children at home, employment, income, and geography. Practical implications are discussed.

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Segmenting Sentiment: Categorizing Keen and Averse Travellers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 virus has devastated the Canadian tourism economy. Understanding residents' attitudes toward travel in the current economic climate can help destination management organizations better prepare a pathway to recovery. This study seeks to delineate Canadians' travel safety attitudes to support this recovery by analyzing Destination Canada’s mid-November omnibus study which surveyed 1,819 Canadians. This study uses Latent Class Analysis to model heterogeneity in travel safety sentiment among Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic and to profile the characteristics of people with different travel safety dispositions. The cluster names are interpreted by the authors and the reported cluster sizes include Typical Canadians (43.4%), Domestic Travel-ready (23.5%), Travel-averse (17. 2%), and Unfettered Travellers (15.9%). These findings confirm the presence of variances in travel safety sentiments across Canadian segments. Further, this study found significant differences in travel safety evaluations by age, education, children at home, employment, income, and geography. Practical implications are discussed.