Understanding the COVID-19 tourist psyche: The Evolutionary Tourism Paradigm

Florian Kock; Astrid Nørfelt; Alexander Josiassen; A George Assaf; Mike G Tsionas

doi:10.1016/j.annals.2020.103053

Understanding the COVID-19 tourist psyche: The Evolutionary Tourism Paradigm

Ann Tour Res. 2020 Nov:85:103053. doi: 10.1016/j.annals.2020.103053. Epub 2020 Sep 9.

Authors

Florian Kock¹, Astrid Nørfelt², Alexander Josiassen^{1

2

3}, A George Assaf⁴, Mike G Tsionas⁵

Affiliations

¹ Copenhagen Business School, Department of Marketing, Solbjerg Plads 3, 2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark.
² RMIT University, Graduate School of Business and Law, 379-405 Russell Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia.
³ School of Tourism & Hospitality, University of Johannesburg, South-Africa.
⁴ Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Flint, Lab 209A, 121 Presidents Drive Amherst, MA 01003, United States of America.
⁵ Department of Economics, Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster, United Kingdom.

Abstract

Studies across the social sciences are making increasing use of an evolutionary perspective. Yet, despite its potential, the application of evolutionary psychology in tourism research is scant. Evolutionary psychology is arguably one of the most useful approaches to understanding the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic on the tourist's psyche. This research highlights, explains, and empirically demonstrates the vast untapped potential of this perspective for post-COVID-19 tourism research. The authors develop an Evolutionary Tourism Paradigm, which is based on biological epistemology and theory to address questions in post-COVID-19 tourism research. This paradigm is brought to life through a developed ocean and islands model, and its utility for future research endeavors on the Coronavirus pandemic is empirically demonstrated in two studies.

Keywords: Behavioral immune system; COVID-19; Coronavirus; Evolutionary psychology; Ocean and islands model.