Social distancing is an effective way to reduce infection risk during pandemics, such as COVID-19. It is important for the tourism industry to understand the effect of social distancing on tourist behavior to better adapt to this emerging environment. This study investigates the role of social distancing in tourists’ preferences for anthropomorphism. Based on three experimental studies, this study found that tourists tend to prefer anthropomorphism more under conditions of social distancing (vs. nonsocial distancing). This effect was induced by the higher perceived warmth of anthropomorphism when one had to practice social distancing. Such effects are only significant among tourists with higher levels of interdependent self-construal. This study makes significant theoretical contributions and provides important practical implications for tourism marketing and service design during pandemic and epidemic crises.

保持社交距离是降低 COVID-19 等大流行病期间感染风险的有效方法。旅游业必须了解社交距离对游客行为的影响，才能更好地适应这种新兴环境。本研究调查了社交距离在游客拟人化偏好中的作用。基于三项实验研究，这项研究发现，在保持社交距离（相对于非社交距离）的情况下，游客更倾向于拟人化。当人们不得不保持社交距离时，拟人化的温暖感会引起这种效果。这种影响仅在具有较高相互依存自我建构水平的游客中显着。