Modelling Tourist's Intention to Adopt Travel Applications during the Pandemic. A Bangladesh Perspective
Abstract
The study's primary purpose is to determine the factors motivating the adoption of online travel applications for booking vacations during the pandemic, specifically amongst the consumers in Bangladesh. The study aims to measure the mediating role of COVID-19 restrictions and information published from time to time on the entire adoption process. The study takes a quantitative approach. A structured questionnaire is used to gather data from 282 respondents nationwide through online mode. A total of 240 respondents showing an interest in online booking of travel are used to analyze the data using Structural Equation Modelling. The EFA and CFA conducted on the 36 items in the questionnaire extracted four factors- two independent variables: Rewarding Motivations and Health Motivations; the dependent variable of Intention to Use and the mediating variable of COVID-19 information. While generating a fit model, there is a significant influence of Rewarding Motivations found on Intention to Use online travel applications with a partially mediating role of COVID-19 information on both the relationships. Empirical evidence from this study will assist tourism marketers in taking sound strategic marketing decisions, which would help revive the tourism sector.
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