Repositioning risk perception as a necessary condition of travel decision: The case of North Korea tourism

Previous studies have reported insignificant, weak, or small-sized effects of perceptions of tourism-related risks and crises on tourist behavioral outcomes. In this article, we delicately posited perceived risk as a necessary-but-not-sufficient cause for the intention to travel. Without low perceived risk, there is no high travel intention. However, high perceived risk does not guarantee high travel intention. To test both average and necessity effects, we utilized SEM and necessary condition analysis (NCA), respectively. From the two separate studies in the context of North Korea tourism, we demonstrated that perceived risks have a necessity effect on travel intention whereas their average effects are either insignificant or small-sized. This article suggests repositioning the role of perceived risk as a “necessary condition” for travel decision-making and introduces a new methodology, NCA, that helps to build parsimonious theories in the tourism field.