COVID-19 įtaka keliautojo elgsenai

LTŠiuo metu pati aktualiausia tema visame pasaulyje – tai naujo Korona viruso COVID-19 pandemija, kuri ne tik izoliuoja žmones ir valstybes, atima gyvybes ir darbus, bet ir turi jau akivaizdžią neigiamą įtaką ekonomikai. Šiame straipsnyje analizuojama COVID-19 viruso įtaka būtent turizmo sektoriui tiriant potencialių keliautojų iš Lietuvos elgseną ir jos pokyčius pandemijos akivaizdoje, bei numatomus ateities kelionių planus bei elgsenos pokyčius siekiant išsiaiškinti kokią įtaką tai turės ilgalaikėje perspektyvoje. Atliktas žvalgomasis tyrimas, kuriame 277 respondentų atsakė į tikslinius klausimus apie keliavimo ypatybes ir įtaką ateities kelionėms, rezultatai bus apžvelgti šiame straipsnyje. Tema yra itin aktuali šiuo metu Korona viruso krizės akivaizdoje, todėl šis darbas atskleidžia būtent dabar vykstančius pokyčius, su kokiais visuomenei dar nėra tekę susidurti. Reikšminiai žodžiai: kelionės, išvykstamasis turizmas, keliautojų elgsena, COVID-19, Korona virusas. [Iš leidinio]

ENThe most relevant topic at the moment – the new Coronavirus and the influence it has bring to our economies, communities, health and all the other spheres. One of the most damaged sector – transport and tourism. This paper aim to analyse the changes in customer behaviour during COVID-19 pandemic, how does it change people plans for travelling at the moment and in a long term, also traveller’s behaviour in organizing trips, selecting destination or an accommodation. The research was carried out using scientific literature analysis and a quantitative research was used for receiving a data about current changes in tourist behaviour which is extremely relevant at the moment. Tourism was one of the most growing industry, counting steady growth for 10 years in a row and reaching the record of 1.5 billion international tourists in year 2019 (UNWTO, 2020) and the forecast for the upcoming year was further growth of 4 % but now it is obvious that instead of a growth tourism industry will face sharp decline due to cancelled flights, closed hotels and restaurants, even borders of the many countries in EU, USA, Asia. Everything changed really rapidly as new Coronavirus fit China in the end of 2019 and soon spread in other countries and continents. This world is facing various risks every day from terror, wars, economy crises, nature disasters to biological virus mutations – all threats cause enormous influence to society and customer behaviour. Consumer behaviour – the decisions that people make to buy or not to buy a product or service, and the factors that influence their decisions (Mowen, 1987). Many scientists agree that consumer behaviour is highly affected by environment and any changes that happen in society. B.F. Skinner was focused not into the individual but into environment and the reaction of people into changes in environment. According to Jan Krajhanzl (2010) consumer behaviour is influenced by internal and external factors.One type of external factors are situational factors like: weather conditions, time, catastrophes, epidemics and other. No other economic sector is so connected with environment like tourism, on which it depends. There are few types of risks on tourism: 1. Nature: storms, earthquakes, volcano eruptions, tsunamis, floods, etc. 2. Technology: risks, caused by unlimited technological development. 3. Political: wars, conflicts, terror. 4. Biological: viruses, infectious diseases. (Robertson, Kean, Moore 2006) Those global challenges have power on most countries tourism sector: in regions where one or another risk if happening, number of tourist drop rapidly (Damulienė, 2011). Current global risk – COVID-19 virus, which caused worldwide pandemic. World Health Organization (WHO) characterized Coronavirus as pandemic on 19th of March, 2020. In a very short time this virus changed people life: many countries are in a lockdown, which leads to closed restaurants, shopping places, public events and many other spheres. One of the most effective way of avoiding virus is staying at home with no physical contact which leads to negative influence to individual’s mental health (WHO 2020).The research of the paper was conducted in March – April, 2020. 277 people from Lithuania answered to online survey questions. Results were analysed with Excel. Profile of the respondents were people from 19 to 65 years, mostly 35-55 years old, active travellers, travelling abroad one and more times per year (81.8 %). Questions were divided into 3 blocks with 15 statements in each and respondents needed to evaluate statement in scale from „totally agree“, „agree“, “neutral”, “disagree”, “totally disagree”. Results revealed that safety if the most important factor for choosing a destination for travelling (93.5 % agree and totally agree with statement). Also, most of the people agree (89.3 %) that they will travel only when they will be sure about safety due to COVID-19. Now 85 % of respondents cancelled or are planning to cancel their future trips due the virus. Despite the huge current influence of the virus, most of the respondents agree that they would like to travel if not the negative Coronavirus news, this means that the virus did not stop people from willing to travel. Summing up all information and research made it is obvious that Coronavirus have a huge influence on society and consumer behaviour in various ways and especially in tourism sector. Changing behaviour is forecasted for the future also: travellers will choose to travel to more remote destinations, avoid mass places, travel more individually and avoid group travelling. Huge attention will be on health and hygiene conditions in places of interest, accommodation and restaurants sector, also for other traveller’s health situation. [From the publication]