The post-COVID-19 road-based tourism market: Negotiation of travel constraints

Abstract

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) not only transformed people’s choice of travel mode but also resulted in travel constraints and related behaviour. This study investigated travel constraints and constraint negotiation in post-COVID-19 road-based tourism in Indonesia. An online questionnaire survey was administered to Indonesian road tourists including self-drive tourists between May to July 2022. The resulting 510 completed questionnaires were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling. Road trips were more popular than flights during the recovery stage of COVID-19. Intrapersonal travel constraints were the largest problem for road-based tourism. This research advances the understanding of road trip travel behaviour in Indonesia and travel constraints after a crisis. The study applies the constraint negotiation model in a road-based travel context. Our study is among the first to combine road tourism psychology and tourism crisis/disaster management in the context of road-based tourism, which may be useful to policymakers and to tourism industry stakeholders in general.