The Collective Traumatic Event of COVID-19 Pandemic and its Psychological Impact on Beliefs and Intentions of Senior Italian Tourists

Abstract

Introduction. The COVID-19 Pandemic represents a traumatic collective event that has suddenly modified our future perception, representation and our lifestyle, including travel for tourism. Tourism is one of the major economic sectors that is suffering from it. Objectives, Method and Procedures. The study analyzed, through a purpose-built online questionnaire, in a sample of 311 Italian old people (m. age = 69.70) how much they believe that COVID-19 Pandemic will change their way of going on holidays. The possible perceived obstacles to continue to travel for tourism in and after Covid-19 Pandemic, and the beliefs about the relevance of tourism in general and cultural tourism for old people and the intention to continue the travel experience in the future are being effected. Results. Old people believe that this pandemic will change their way to go on holidays, and this belief is more pronounced for female than for males; the most critical obstacles are anxiety and fear about a sudden return of Coronavirus, the lack of safety systems in tourism hospitality structures, the lack of effective instruments by Tour Operators for dealing with Coronavirus in the touristic destinations, with 18% of explained variance. On the contrary, they possess very positive beliefs about the relevance of tourism in general and cultural tourism as a specific form of travel.