How will multifaceted trust impact domestic travel during the COVID-19 pandemic and subjective well-being? A comparison between Korea and the US

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2022.101033Get rights and content

Highlights

  • An extensive survey was conducted on 1181 Korean and American domestic tourists.

  • The impact of extended tourist trust constructs on travel was examined amid pandemic.

  • Trust constructs have different effects on travel frequency and travel satisfaction.

  • Travel satisfaction matters more than frequency for improving subjective well-being.

  • Cultural factors (U.S vs. Korea) moderate some of the hypothesized links.

Abstract

This study examines the impact of extended tourist trust constructs on domestic travel experiences, subjective well-being, and future travel intention in the pandemic. Data was obtained through a survey conducted on 1181 Korean and American domestic tourists. The results show that policy trust and destination trust have positive effects on travel frequency and satisfaction. Moreover, interactional trust positively impacted travel satisfaction. While both travel frequency and travel satisfaction have positive impacts on subjective well-being of travelers, travel satisfaction has a stronger impact on subjective well-being than travel frequency. However, certain relationships were influenced by national backgrounds (U·S vs. Korea).

Keywords

COVID-19 pandemic
Policy trust
Destination trust
Interactional trust
Travel experiences
Subjective well-being

Cited by (0)

Hakseung Shin is an assistant professor at the School of Tourism of the Hanyang University. His research interests include service management and marketing strategy in hospitality and tourism. Particular interests include service innovation, digital convergence, new business development, and regional tourism.

Juhyun Kang is an assistant professor in the Department of Tourism Management at the Jeju National University. Her research centers on organizational behavior, management strategy, and technology applications in the hospitality and tourism industry.

Changhwan Park is an assistant professor at the Department of Tourism of Dongseo University. His research interests include leisure, cultural tourism, tourism well-being & happiness, and event management.

Hoon Lee is a professor of the School of Tourism at Hanyang University in Seoul, Korea. He is the head of the Hanyang Tourism Research Institute and has advised on tourism policy of Seoul and Korea national tourism organization (KNTO). His current research interests are event & festival management, fair & sustainable tourism, tourism well-being, and tourism content development.

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea under grant (NRF-2019S1A5C2A02082896).

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