Despite the declaration of the end of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS) outbreak in December 2015 in South Korea that the epidemic lasted for 2 months, the depressed domestic economy and tourism sector did not immediately restore. Thus, it is important to explore how much of an impact the disease had and how long the damage lasted. Using quantitative time-series models, the present study explored the influence of MERS on inbound tourism in South Korea and estimates the concrete impact of MERS on the market in 2015. Monthly international tourist arrival data were provided by the Korea Tourism Organization from January 2009 to December 2015. The results showed that the contagious disease was statistically and negatively significant for inbound tourists visiting South Korea. During the time of MERS, from June 2015 to September 2015, the total effect was estimated to be −1,968,765 tourists with a loss of 3.1 billion USD in receipts. This study can not only better estimate the impact on tourism number of inbound tourist arrivals, but also supports policy-makers in their attempts to establish proper policies to assure tourists of their safety in such crises.

Despite theme parks being a research hotspot, there is a paucity of research to understand the forming process of brand behavioral intentions (i.e., the intention of revisiting a theme park and the visit intentions of other theme parks under the same brand). For identifying the developing process of brand behavioral intentions from the perspective of experience, the current study developed a theoretical framework in which brand experience and memory affect visitors’ satisfaction and behavioral intentions to revisit a particular theme park as well as to visit other theme parks of the same brand. The empirical results of current study showed that visitors’ theme park experiences were good enough antecedents of their memories and satisfaction. It was also found that, when visitors’ memory and satisfaction are high, they are likely to have stronger impact on intentions to revisit the theme park and to visit theme parks of the same brand than did memory.

This study aims to develop a new theoretical framework from the perspective of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), incorporating flow theory, to explore the factors influencing behavioral intentions to participate in metaverse tourism. Using data from 518 respondents with metaverse experience and participation in metaverse tourism, the study employed R Studio and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to test the relationships between variables in the model. The results indicate that metaverse flow has a significant positive impact on users’ perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, with flow demonstrating strong explanatory power as a precursor factor. Perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are predictors of users’ attitudes to using metaverse technology. A positive attitude towards the metaverse can enhance users’ support for metaverse tourism and their behavioral intention to participate in it, while support also positively influences behavioral intention. Support for metaverse tourism acts as a clear mediator between attitudes and behavioral intention. The newly developed theoretical framework in this study provides a fresh perspective for metaverse tourism research and helps enrich empirical analysis in this field. By deeply analyzing tourists’ behavioral intentions, the study provides valuable insights for stakeholders to develop targeted marketing strategies and services, thus promoting the future development of metaverse tourism.

The purpose of this study is to build a theoretical framework to explain Korean domestic tourists’ decision-making process under COVID-19 by applying an extended model of goal-directed behavior. The role of positive expectation of COVID-19, the effect of mass media, and perception of government policy were considered as new variables in the process of tourism decision-making. The results of this present study show that positive and negative anticipated emotion, positive expectation, and the frequency of past behavior positively influence the desire for travel domestically within the next three months, while the effect of mass media negatively affected the desire for travel domestically within the next three months. Two anticipated emotions and positive expectations were positive antecedents of the desire for travel domestically within this year. The anticipated emotions and the effect of mass media affected the desire to travel domestically next year. The results of this tourist’s decision-making research will offer government, the tourism sector, and policy decision-makers better insights for establishing tourism policy responses and create safe destinations to help an adequate recovery and development of the tourism industry.

The present study aims to explore Korean domestic tourists’ decision-making processes by utilizing an extended model of goal-directed behavior (EMGB) as a theoretical framework. Integrating government policy (PLY) and protection motivation for smog (PMS) with the original model of goal-directed behavior (MGB) makes it easier to better understand the formation process of tourists’ behavioral intentions for domestic travel. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is employed to identify the structural relationships among the latent variables. The results of the EMGB indicated that desire had the strongest effect on the behavioral intention of tourists to travel domestically; positive anticipated emotion is the main source of desire, followed by negative anticipated emotion. Government PLY on smog has a significant, positive and indirect effect on behavioral intentions of domestic or potential tourists through the protection motive theory. We found that desires are verified as a determinant of the behavioral intention’s formation, more significant than that of perceived behavioral control, frequency of past behavior and protection motivation. In addition, this study offers theoretical and practical suggestions.