Tourism crises are important events affecting the development of destinations. However, the academic community lacks adequate knowledge from the accumulated literature on the classification attributes, spatial distribution, and impact structure of global tourism crises. This research analyzed 302 articles related to tourism crises from 1991 to 2020 drawn from the Social Sciences Citation Index database. Bibliometric and content analyses were conducted to identify the event types, regional distribution, impact structure, and synergistic factors of tourism crises. The results showed that the extant research on tourism crises has event-driven characteristics. The types of tourism crises are diverse and have multiple subcategories. The tourism crises featured in academic research are mainly events affecting Asia, Europe, and North America, reflecting their real-world distribution. The impacts of tourism crises on destinations are at three levels: macro, meso, and micro. Synergistic factors can enhance or weaken the degree of crisis impacts, which include positive, negative, and interactive factors. Research on tourism crises has substantial future scope and this investigation puts forward an agenda for this work.
Safety for tourists at places visited is essential to their enjoyment and experiences, as well as a determinant of destination success. Yet, little attention has been paid to the conceptualization and scale development for tourist perceived safety at destinations (TPSD). The primary purpose of this research was to identify the dimensions of TPSD and develop a scale for measuring it based on safety system theory. A three-stage study in a mixed-method design was conducted to develop and validate TPSD. Stage 1 identified the dimensions and initial items of TPSD through extensive literature reviewing and content analysis of travel blogs. In stage 2 (n = 300), an explanatory factor analysis was conducted to refine and validate the preliminary items. Stage 3 (n = 1,830) provided empirical support for a 20-item, five-dimension (human, facility and equipment, natural environment, social environment, management) TPSD scale through confirmatory factor analysis.
The effect of risk message framing on travel intention requires more empirical investigations in long-term high-risk situations like the current COVID-19 pandemic. Based on frame theory, this study employed an experimental design to examine how two contrasting approaches of COVID-19 risk message framing (amplifying vs. attenuating) affected post-pandemic travel intention via the mediation of perceived safety and travel fear, and how resilience and impulsivity as tourist traits moderate these relationships. Survey results based on 481 responses revealed that: (1) risk messages significantly predicted tourists’ perceived safety, travel fear, and travel intention; (2) tourists’ perceived safety and travel fear mediated the effects of risk messages on travel intention; (3) while resilience moderated the effects of message framing on perceived safety and travel intention, impulsivity only moderated the effect of message framing on travel fear. The study provides a theoretical basis and practical implications for destination risk communications.
Ethnic minority villages are a vital part of tourism in certain destinations, often attracting many domestic and international visitors to experience unique local cultures and authentic lifestyles. However, much of the relevant literature has not examined tourist motivations, perceptions, and attitudes regarding ethnic minority village tourism. This exploratory qualitative research analyzed user-generated blogs uploaded by people sharing their ethnic minority village experiences in Guizhou Province, China. ROST Content Mining6 software was employed to identify motivations, perceptions, and attitudes toward minority village tourism. The findings indicated that tourist experience included natural aesthetic, cultural aesthetic, service and interaction, and entertainment. The main motivation was to experience unique cultural activities. The strongest perceptions were of the local villagers, Miao and Dong family life, and tourism services and environments. Tourist attitudes were mostly positive. Suggestions for better satisfying tourist needs and improving experiences were derived from the data.