Impact of health risk perception on avoidance of international travel in the wake of a pandemic

As tourists are increasingly putting off their air travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has tremendously affected the travel and tourism industry, this study examined the role of negative affect, perceived health risk, perceived uncertainty, and mental wellbeing in forming travel attitudes and temporal avoidance behaviour to global destinations seriously-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic from a U.S. tourist perspective. The cross-sectional online survey showed that negative affect as a result of COVID-19 significantly influenced perceived health risk, which in turn induced mental wellbeing and perceived uncertainty. While mental wellbeing significantly predicted attitudes towards international travel and temporal avoidance behaviour, perceived uncertainty significantly predicted short-term avoidance behaviour. The insight obtained from this study provides a mechanism behind tourist avoidance behaviour in times of global health crises and implications for tourism reliant destinations to develop recovery strategies in coping with the impact of the pandemic.