Examining tourists' travel intentions in Türkiye during pandemic and post-pandemic period: The mediating effect of risk reduction behavior

In the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, risk perception negatively affected travel intention. Whether the vaccination has changed risk perception and the impact of vaccination on travel intention has not been fully evaluated in the literature. This study aims to examine the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on tourists' travel intentions during the mass vaccination and normalization period by the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). The mediating role of risk reduction behavior between risk perception and travel intention is also investigated. An online survey was conducted with 1233 tourists in Türkiye. As a result of the Structural Equation Model (SEM), it was found that the variables of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control had a positive effect on tourists' travel intentions. However, no significant effect of the Covid-19 risk perception on travel intention was determined. When the mediation is tested, the effect of Covid-19 risk perception on travel intention became significant. Since most of our sample population was vaccinated (94.8%), tourists did not perceive Covid-19 as a risk at first. When they applied risk reduction behaviors, they began to perceive Covid-19 as a risk and realized that the pandemic was still not over and necessary precautions had to be taken. While this study emphasizes the importance of the mediation effect risk reduction behavior, it provides us with new ideas about the changes in the travel intention of tourists during the pandemic period.