Factors influencing travelers' intention by environmental changes of destination: Cross-country evidence from Far-East Asia

Travel intentions are influenced by not only personal background but also external factors such as national disasters, infectious diseases, and government policy. While international flights and the travel market are sharply recovering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, travel risk will affect future travel demand. This study analyzed the relationship between potential risk of destination and travel avoidance intention using the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) model. The survey was conducted with 303 Chinese and 253 South Korean respondents living in countries adjacent to Japan. The results reveal that travel avoidance intentions may be influenced by emotional reactions to the complexity of the geopolitical environment or the diverse protection motivation perceptions of travelers. This study proposes that nationality has a moderate effect on tentative travel avoidance intention compared to gender.