Pre and Post Covid-19 Travel Intentions and Perceptions of the Travelers of Bangladesh

Abstract

The whole world is going through a challenging period of time due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19). In Bangladesh, the Tourism industry was one of the booming industries until the pandemic spread with its curse. The novel coronavirus is causing plenty of negative effects on Bangladesh’s travel and tourism industry. The future of the travel and tourism industry may get hampered due to the Covid-19 pandemic as the virus spreads vastly and seems a risk for many travelers. Tourists travel related decision and behavior depends on the overall situation around them. But how the travelers of Bangladesh are responding to the recent pandemic situation and how their travel intentions and perceptions vary is still unknown. It is essential to know tourist perception regarding Covid-19 and how it affects their travel intention. This research aims to initiate an in-depth understanding of the travel intention and perceptions of the travelers of Bangladesh. Specifically, it will attempt to find the travel pattern of travelers in Bangladesh during the Covid-19 pandemic. In particular, it will try to fill the gap by identifying tourists’ perceptions regarding traveling in the Covid-19 period. In order to fulfill the research objectives, a quantitative research method has been used by the author. The study utilized a self-administered, close-ended questionnaire to get responses from the participants. The sample of the study has collected by following the non-probability convenience sampling method. The research has found that the travel intention and perception of the travelers of Bangladesh varies in a wide range from pre Covid-19 period to post Covid-19 period according to tourist demographic profile and the fear of Covid-19 influences the tourist perception negatively due to its health risk. The study also pointed out that, a large number of tourists, who are frequent travelers in nature before Covid-19 took place, are largely influenced by the pandemic, and due to health risks, they are supposed to avoid traveling and become more concerned about ensuring personal hygiene and maintaining more social distance. According to the study findings and the sampled respondents' opinions author tries to point out some strategies that might be helpful for tourism practitioners to mitigate the loss of the tourism and hospitality industry in Bangladesh.

Keywords: Covid-19, Pandemic, Tourists’ perceptions, Crisis, Travel intentions, Travel restrictions, Risk, Tourism impact

DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/15-14-04

Publication date:July 31^st 2023