Title of Paper

The Impact of Pandemic Trauma on Prevention-Focused Travel Behavior: A Fear Conditioning Perspective

Author Bios (50 Words for each Author)

Huimin Liu (huiminliu@temple.edu) is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management at Temple University. Huimin’s current research interests include tourist experience, online and offline tourist behavior, and trauma in tourism contexts.

Xiang (Robert) Li, Ph.D. (robertli@temple.edu) is a professor and Chair of the Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management at Temple University. Robert's research mainly focuses on destination marketing and tourist behavior, with emphases on international destination branding, customer loyalty, and tourism in Asia.

Abstract (150 Words)

The COVID-19 global pandemic has become a major mental stressor to people, thwarting people’s travel demands. Yet there is a lack of investigation on the influence of general or traumatic mental constraints on travel. This paper explores the impact of the pandemic trauma on prevention-focused travel behavior and examines the possible mechanism and boundaries of this relationship. Study 1 uses PSM-DID and shows that easing mental trauma caused by the pandemic decreased travel hesitation. Study 2 and 3 conducted moderation and mediation analysis. The findings show that the centrality of traumatic event during the pandemic positively impacts travel fear. Intrusive rumination mediates the relationship between traumatic event centrality and travel fear. Tourist involvement during the pandemic attenuates this relationship. This paper establishes a causal relationship between pandemic trauma and prevention-focused travel behavior, and introduces the concept of traumatic event centrality in the growing body of pandemic tourism research. Moreover, knowledge of the impact of traumatic experience on travel can provide practical insights on the tourism industry recovery.

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The Impact of Pandemic Trauma on Prevention-Focused Travel Behavior: A Fear Conditioning Perspective

The COVID-19 global pandemic has become a major mental stressor to people, thwarting people’s travel demands. Yet there is a lack of investigation on the influence of general or traumatic mental constraints on travel. This paper explores the impact of the pandemic trauma on prevention-focused travel behavior and examines the possible mechanism and boundaries of this relationship. Study 1 uses PSM-DID and shows that easing mental trauma caused by the pandemic decreased travel hesitation. Study 2 and 3 conducted moderation and mediation analysis. The findings show that the centrality of traumatic event during the pandemic positively impacts travel fear. Intrusive rumination mediates the relationship between traumatic event centrality and travel fear. Tourist involvement during the pandemic attenuates this relationship. This paper establishes a causal relationship between pandemic trauma and prevention-focused travel behavior, and introduces the concept of traumatic event centrality in the growing body of pandemic tourism research. Moreover, knowledge of the impact of traumatic experience on travel can provide practical insights on the tourism industry recovery.