The effects of socio-political context on Tourism

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of tourists’ perceptions of political and economic instability and risks of terrorism on their intentions to travel to countries associated with various risks.Design/methodology/approachA total of 648 Greek, Israeli and Portuguese students c...

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Published inEuroMed journal of business Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 22 - 38
Main Authors Shahrabani, Shosh, Teitler-Regev, Sharon, Syna, Helena Desivilya, Tsoukatos, Evangelos, Ambrosio, Vitor, Correia Loureiro, Sandra Maria, Voulgaris, Fotini
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Bingley Emerald Group Publishing Limited 06.04.2020
Subjects
Economic crisis
Perceptions
Sociodemographics
Terrorism
Tourism
Travel
Greece
Turkey
United Kingdom > UK
Norway
Israel
Portugal
Germany
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Summary:PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of tourists’ perceptions of political and economic instability and risks of terrorism on their intentions to travel to countries associated with various risks.Design/methodology/approachA total of 648 Greek, Israeli and Portuguese students completed a questionnaire focusing on their perceptions concerning factors that shape their travel decisions.FindingsThe findings showed that among tourists from Greece and Portugal, the experience of economic crisis and the salience of economic and political hardships mitigated their intentions to travel to destinations with similar problems. These factors had no effect on Israelis, who have not experienced such problems in their country. Frequent terrorist incidents diminished the intentions of Greek tourists to travel to destinations marked by terrorism, such as Israel. Thus, different factors affect tourists’ travel-related decisions in each of the three countries.Originality/valueThe study sheds light on how potential tourists construe the risks of traveling to specific destination countries based on hazards in their home countries, a topic that to date has received little research attention.
ISSN:1450-2194
1758-888X
DOI:10.1108/EMJB-08-2018-0050