LOYAL: TO WHAT EXTENT? A shift in destination preference due to the COVID-19 pandemic

The choice of a holiday destination is affected both by the destination's image and the tourists' loyalty. Previous epidemic and pandemic outbreaks have consistently affected the way people holiday, since their perception of risk is associated to the destination's image and influenced by media coverage and graphic imagery.

We studied tourists’ perceptions and behaviours during the first period of COVID-19 with the objective of investigating how preferences and loyalty for different types of destinations (seaside, mountain, art cities) change during health emergencies.

We segmented tourists according to their perceived risk, over months and towards different types of destinations. We found that mountain locations are perceived as safer than seaside destinations and art cities. Despite their expression of loyalty to the same destination, in times of respiratory disease-related risk perception, tourists have shifted destination categories, thus changing their preferences from seaside to mountain destinations.