A Case Study on Factors Influencing Malaysian Tourists' Travel Behaviour Intentions Post-COVID-19.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic had tremendously impacted the tourism sector. The worldwide movement restrictions implemented during the pandemic had put a halt on international travel and changed tourists' travel behaviour. Tourism Malaysia reported a great drop in the country's tourism revenue for 2020 and 2021, resulting from the COVID-19 hit. To cope with the catastrophic effects of the pandemic on tourism performance, domestic tourism has been the main focus to draw local tourists' attention away from the hazards of uncertainty. In this context, the stakeholders' understanding of Malaysian tourists' travel behaviour intentions following this catastrophe is vital to develop long-term recovery strategies and ensuring the sustainability of the tourism industry, moving forward. Studies which attempt to discover tourists' travel behaviour intentions, especially in light of COVID-19's unprecedented impact on Malaysians, are still very limited in number. This study, therefore, investigated the factors that affected Malaysian tourists' travel behaviour intentions after the COVID-19 pandemic. Relying on the enhanced Theory of Planned Behaviour, the factors constraining travel such as attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behaviour control, and perceived risks, which are highly related to tourists' travel behavioural intentions, were selected. Through a quantitative research approach, questionnaires were distributed to Malaysian tourists. The total sample size was 300 respondents. The findings demonstrate that most of the Malaysian tourists' travel behavioural intentions were affected by attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behaviour control, and perceived risks. However, perceived behaviour control was found to have the greatest impact on Malaysian tourists' travel behaviour intentions, followed by attitude, subjective norms, and perceived dangers. It was revealed that their travel behaviour intentions were influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, considering the travel behaviour intentions of the Malaysian tourists, a comprehensive plan must be devised to enable stakeholders involved in tourism recovery post-COVID-19 to develop focused marketing or promotional strategies to generate significant influence and return on investment in order to stimulate the performance of the tourism industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]