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The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically altered people's travel behaviors. This research, based upon a set of data that encompassed 16 months of the pandemic, looks at a significant US sample to determine, from a political perspective, who was most likely to travel at a time when the science and their government were suggesting they stay home. The results, extending prior research, found a strong relationship between political party affiliation and one's travel proclivity, with Republicans, the conservative American political party, far more likely to have indicated their likelihood to travel during the pandemic than were more liberal Democrats. The theories of Perceived Behavioral Control and Social Amplification of Risk are considered as concepts to help explain the differences between the two segments and serve as guides for the recommendations provided for travel marketing during future crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 50 USA states each approached the challenges of COVID-19 as they felt best for their people and their economy. This research evaluates the impacts of the decisions made by the individual states as this relates to their hospitality and tourism industry. As the title of this paper suggests, those states making the hard decision to impose strict restrictions often found their tourism industry to have suffered most during the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2020 year-end holidays were a time of much apprehension regarding COVID-19, with U.S. health officials concerned that travel would result in a post-holiday surge of the disease. As such, much effort was expended encouraging people to forego their normal travel. Many Americans, however, ignored this advice and a strong uptick of travel within the U.S. was soon followed by an alarming increase in COVID cases. A U.S. online survey was conducted to better understand those individuals who made the risky decision to travel despite being encouraged by their government not to do so. Those who traveled for the holidays were compared with those who stayed home, based on their attitudes toward COVID, various psychographic characteristics associated with risk, political attitudes, and demographics. The between-group differences, shared herein, were startlingly clear. The findings are of theoretical value and will prove useful when setting policy and messaging during future crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism and politics are symbiotic. This research, conducted before the impacts of COVID-19 were evident to most Americans, provides insight into the influence one's political persuasion has upon their view toward travel issues related to the disease. The key finding: political tribalism was highly evident, with Republicans, the more conservative USA political party, significantly more supportive of closing the country's borders to those visiting from places where the virus was apparent than were Democratic respondents. Republicans were also considerably less supportive of governmental financial support to hospitality and tourism providers negatively impacted by the then evolving pandemic. Documenting this early glimpse is valuable, helping us better prepare for similar episodes that may follow by depoliticizing actions that are based on health science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research, conducted during the COVID‐19 pandemic, applied Stanley Plog's seminal tourism Model of Allocentricity and Psychocentricity and discovered surprising relationships between one's Plog classification and their political attitudes and travel behaviors during the crisis. Though expecting Plog's Allocentrics to have the more politically liberal views and Psychocentrics to be more conservative, we found the opposite to be true. Two previous datasets were revisited, each confirming the relationship. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research note considers the relationship between international travel experience and one's political views. The findings reveal that those who travel internationally have strongly differentiated views from those who do not, but that these are neither necessarily more liberal nor conservative than those who have not traveled abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research looks at the relationship between political libertarianism and personal self-interest, as informed by the concept of NIMBYism (not-in-my-backyard) that underlies much of the resident attitude toward tourism literature. Based on a comprehensive survey of more than 500 residents from Charleston, South Carolina, a city heavily dependent on tourism, the research determined, as the literature would predict, that general views toward tourism were highly dependent on where one lives. However, for specific tourism issues, one's personal political views tended to trump geography. Application of theory and suggestions for tourism policy makers are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]