Crises is an unprecedented threat to the tourism industry that affects tourists travel decision and causes a substantial drop in tourism demand. This study attempt to examine impacts of COVID-19 outbreak crises on tourists’ travel behaviour. The empirical results of the current study indicate that COVID-19 has greatly affected tourists travel decision and their perceptions of hygiene and safety. Tourists think that pandemic has created anxiety and reduced their travel plans for the next 12 months. Current work contributes to tourism crises studies and provides future research insights.

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic and the travellers’ behaviour towards travel risk is an emerging issue. Nonetheless, the travellers’ perceived COVID-19 impacts, travel risk perception, health and safety perception and travel avoidance concerning protection motivation theory is unnoticed. Following the protection motivation theory, the current study investigates the direct and indirect relationships between perceived COVID-19 impacts and travel avoidance. Moreover, the travellers’ cognitive perceptions of risk may vary with their demographic characteristics; therefore, the present study aims to test the differences in group-specific parameter estimates using a multi-group analysis. Design/methodology/approach: The authors approached travellers from Tianjin, China using different communication services, including WeChat and email, through a snowball sampling technique. The study used 553 valid questionnaires for analysis. Findings: The results of 553 questionnaires in structural equation modelling (SEM) with AMOS 21 indicated that travellers’ perceived Covid-19 impacts positively correlate with travel avoidance. The study model based on protection motivation theory specifies that travel risk perception and health and safety perception as a cognitive mediating process partially mediated the relationship between perceived COVID-19 impacts and travel avoidance. The findings specified that during COVID-19, travellers assessed the severity of travel risks and adopted preventive measures which influenced their travel behaviour and led to travel avoidance. The multi-group analysis results indicated no difference in perception for gender and education; however, concerning age, the significant nested p-value specifies a difference in perception. Practical implications: The study offers implications for policymakers and the tourism industry to understand the travellers’ perceptions of travel during the pandemic and ensure health and safety measures to encourage travelling and reviving the tourism industry. Originality/value: The application of protection motivation theory to analyse the travellers’ perceived COVID-19 impacts and travel avoidance in the presence of travel risk perception and health and safety perceptions as a cognitive mediating process is novel.

This research investigates the relationship between the expertise of female audit committee (AC) chairs and financial reporting quality (FRQ). Also, it examines the moderating effect of the expertise of AC female chairs on the relationships between internal control (ICS), components of ICS, and FRQ This study analyses 302 firms listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange from 2010 to 2016. Data on ICS, FRQ, and other corporate governance indications are collected manually from annual reports. This study concludes that the accounting expertise of AC female chairs enhances FRQ better than their male counterparts. Also, the accounting expertise of AC female chairs improve corporate governance mechanisms and ICSs (i.e., Control Environment, Control Activities, and information and communication). This research offers implications for shareholders and regulators. The accounting expertise of female AC chairs (WACCH) improve monitoring that enhances shareholder value and investor confidence. The regulator needs to be stricter regarding the requirements for AC chairs.

The present study aims to investigate the impact of income inequality and economic growth on carbon dioxide (CO2) emission through the moderating role of innovation in China at national and regional levels. To test the hypothesised relationships, this study took the data from 1995 to 2015 and employed panel estimation. Findings of the whole analysis show that income inequality and economic growth influence CO2 emission in China. Moreover, technological innovation moderates the proposed link. However, the findings at the regional level are mixed, thus confirming the existence of regional differences. Policy implications are also discussed.