Impacts of COVID-19 on tourists' destination preferences: Evidence from China

Highlights

• Tourists' destination preferences are significantly reshaped by the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Tourists less prefer destinations with more confirmed COVID-19 cases, especially Hubei Province.

• Tourists more prefer destinations close to home, especially the local attractions.

• Underlying mechanisms are proposed based on signaling, risk perception, and prospect theory.

Abstract

Using data of online ticket sales for attractions in the seven provinces of South Central China, this study focuses on the impact of COVID-19 on tourists' destination preferences after the end of lockdown. Empirical results reveal that tourists' destination preferences have changed significantly, which holds under a number of robustness checks. Specifically, we find that tourists avoid traveling to destinations with more confirmed cases of COVID-19 relative to their places of origin, especially Hubei Province, and prefer destinations close to home, especially local attractions. The empirical findings have significant implications for managers and policymakers in tourism and we provide potential mechanisms for these findings based on signaling, risk perception, and prospect theory.