The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological needs of tourists: implications for the travel and tourism industry

Catherine Cheung, Miki Takashima, Hyunjung Choi, Huijun Yang, Vincent Tung

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

85 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study aims to explore the psychological needs and satisfaction of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean tourists across three phases (i.e. before, during and perceived aftermath) of the COVID-19 pandemic. It fulfilled the theoretical extension of the Existence, Relatedness and Growth (ERG) theory to identify the basic psychological needs of the tourists in a pandemic situation. In-depth interviews, findings confirmed ERG processes of Satisfaction-Progression, Frustration-Regression, and Simple-Frustration. Nevertheless, the predominant psychological needs of tourists were different in each phase. The study contributes to a better understanding of post-pandemic needs of the tourists and is useful in redesigning travel experiences.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)155-166
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of Travel and Tourism Marketing
Volume38
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2021

Keywords

  • COVID-19 pandemic
  • ERG theory
  • frustration regression
  • Psychological needs
  • satisfaction progression
  • simple frustration
  • tourism marketing strategies
  • tourism recovery
  • tourists in Asia

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management
  • Marketing

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological needs of tourists: implications for the travel and tourism industry'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this