Emotional well-being impact on travel motivation and intention of outbound vacationers during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT This study attempts to investigate tourists’ emotional well-being in routine life with travel motivations and intention during COVID-19. Based on a survey of 511 Macao outbound vacationers, this study tested the hypotheses and revealed that the push factor of ‘escape & relaxation’ and two motivational constructs of ‘ safety & convenience’ and ‘family socialization’, which much concerned tourists during COVID-19 pandemic, could significantly influence tourists’ repeat travel intention. Moreover, the results indicated that tourists’ positive emotions toward their routine life could increase their repeat travel intention and motivation of ‘safety & convenience’ but decrease the need of ‘family socialization’ for tourism consumption, while negative emotions did the opposite. This study empirically confirmed the significant effects of emotional well-being in routine life on tourists’ travel motivations and intention during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some theoretical implications for future research and managerial implications for tourism recovery were discussed.