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Introduction Problem Statement As of late 2019, the COVID-19 virus was constrained within the border of China, where it has been revealed to originate (Morens et al., 2020; Shereen et al., 2020). However, later than the same month, the virus escaped China's border and spread all over the globe (Giuliani et al., 2020). As a result, humans were discovered to be the main target and casualty of the COVID-19 virus. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) Coronavirus Dashboard (2022), as of June 7th, 2023, there were 767,750,853 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 6,941,095 deaths globally. At the early stage of the pandemic spread, it was discovered that the virus spreads through direct touch and respiratory droplets. This led governments worldwide to impose various preventive measures, some of which were found to be draconian, to reduce transmission and spread (Ziam et al., 2020). The World Health Organization (WHO) Coronavirus Dashboard (2022) provided a summary of the different public health and social measures that were enforced in countries and territories all over the globe in a bid to strike a compromise between preventing the spread of the pandemic and disrupting everyday activities. These preventive measures undoubtedly came with some strict restrictions. However, as of 2022, 131 countries and territories have lifted COVID-related travel restrictions, including 41 countries in Europe, 22 countries in Asia, and 8 countries in Oceania (D'Amours, 2022). Gradually, life began returning to normal as was the case pre-pandemic, and with this gradual resumption of normal life, the travel intention of people began to increase. With the global spread of the COVID-19 virus starting in late 2019 and the attendance measures put in place by governments worldwide, travels were limited, and people's travel intentions were curbed. These measures hit the travel and tourism industry the most (Uğur & Akbıyık, 2020). Travel intentions refer to the likelihood that a consumer will or will not engage in a set of behaviors associated with a tourist service (Hennessy et al., 2016). Many factors come into play in deciding and influencing the travel intentions of individuals. Dai and Jia (2021) suggested that subjective information, the perception of a journey destination, and the mode of travel are behavioral variables that affect one's travel intention. With the COVID-19 pandemic, fears associated with the virus contagion and the risk of death were huge factors in influencing the travel intentions of individuals. During COVID-19, Kim et al. (2022, P.1905) found that "individuals' perceptions about COVID-19, appraisal of travel risk, and travel anxiety were positively related, while travel anxiety was negatively associated with travel desire." Research Gaps Numerous studies have tried to examine the correlation between travel restrictions as a result of measures enforced to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus and the travel intentions of people worldwide (Aziz & Long, 2021; Wen et al., 2020). However, travel intention considers to
be one of the least studied topics in the field of tourism still (Makhdoomi and Baba, 2019). In addition, limited studies have been focused on examining the experience of Hong Kong residents with regard to the influence of travel restrictions on travel intentions (Luo & Lam, 2020; Xu et al., 2022). One study found that Hong Kong residents, who form the target sample of this work, have had to encounter more challenges while considering travel decisions and destinations outside Hong Kong, as they do not merely have to consider the preventive measures of the home country (Hong Kong), but also the destination country (Luo & Lam, 2020). Thus, this work will add to the limited literature on this subject and try to fill in some notable research gaps, such as how the residents of Hong Kong reacted to the travel restrictions imposed on the onset of and during the spread of the COVID-19 virus pandemic, how these restrictive measures imposed to curb the spread of the virus, impacted on their travel intentions, and also how these restrictive measures, which have to a large part been relaxed, influences their decisions regarding traveling. Aim of the thesis This work examines and evaluates how Hong Kong residents reacted to the travel-related COVID-19 preventive measures, as seen in how these measures influence their travel intentions and how these measures influence their travel intentions. Moreover, being a resident and citizen of Hong Kong and embracing the connection and sensation of being a resident, the author would like to learn and enliven the travel intention and culture of the people of Hong Kong to understand better what constitutes the thought of the people and what they consider prior to their travel decisions, taking into consideration the various travel restrictions which were enforced. Research Questions To achieve the aim of this work, the thesis will be guided by the following research questions, 1. How did the residents of Hong Kong react to the preventive measures that impact travel? 2. How did residents' travel intentions change with COVID-19? 3. What are the impacts of the past and prospective COVID-19 preventive measures on Hong Kong residents' future travel intentions? Research Approaches
This study begins with a review of the existing literature on travel restrictions due to the COVID- 19 pandemic and travel intentions to provide an overview of the travel-related COVID-19 preventive measures in Hong Kong. In addition, the study will adopt the quantitative research approach and work with primary data, which will be collected by issuing a questionnaire conducted online. The target focus of this study will be Hong Kong residents who will form the target sample. The rationale for picking Hong Kong residents as the focus group is mainly because compared to nearby countries such as Japan, South Korea, and Thailand, Hong Kong had implemented one of the most rigorous measures. Thus, this work intends to examine how these travel restrictions have influenced the travel intentions of Hong Kong residents on future trips. The sampling technique will be convenience sampling, intended to target participants 18 years and above. Numerical data will be gathered from the survey questionnaire issued and analyzed afterward. Descriptive statistics will be used to describe the characteristics of the sample. Figures and tables will display and summarize the survey results graphically. Finally, a discussion of the results and conclusion, recommendations, limitations, and suggestions for future studies will be discussed. Literature Review Travel Intention Definition The theory of travel intention makes an attempt to explain why people choose to travel or not. In general, the theory contends that attitudes, changes of external environment and expectations all have an impact on a person's decision to travel. Travel intention is one of the behavioral intentions formed through selecting, choosing, and decision-making (Hennessy et al., 2016 ). Ajzen (1991) introduced The Theory of Planned Behavior, which proposed that intention comprises three parties: attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, which indicate and reflect the reason for a person's behavior. Attitudes refer to one's expectation and sensation in regards of travelling. Two individuals could hold completely opposite ideas about travelling (Ajzen, 1991), for instance someone tend to go out and enjoy the view and culture while they are on a trip but it can be vice versa for another type of people. Subjective norms refer to how people around us affect our travel intentions by doing or reacting on those travel-related things (Ajzen, 1991). Those ideas and reactions shown by another person could greatly influence how we rate about a travel destination and perceived ideas are developed prior to landing the legs on that country's land. Perceived behavioral control refers to an individual's ability and capability to whether he/she goes on a travel on not (Ajzen, 1991). Examples can be poor financial status, visa application difficulties, travel-related restrictions and safety of the destination. For instance, individual could be discouraged from travelling to United Kingdom as it is no longer in the EU area, yet visa application process for just a 5 days trip is difficult and tiring. Travel intention, travel motivation and travel behavior are three distinct ideas while travel intention refers to an individual's willingness to travel, similar to travel motivation. However, travel behavior refers to the actual travelling action. Furthermore, travel motivation means the
rationale in-depth of why people go on or desire to travel (Maitland et al., 2019; Kasim & Ismail, 2017). Huang and Hsu (2009, P.287) defined travel motivation as a critical factor and a driving force behind tourist behavior. Vuuren and Slabbert (2002, P.296) defined travel behavior as 'the way tourists behave according to their attitudes towards a certain product and their response by making use of the product.' Travel behavior is primarily driven by travel intention, and travel intention is controlled by travel motivation. It is typically brought on by push and pull elements that influence customers' feelings about travel-related goods and services (Crompton, 1979; Dann, 1988). Travel intention is formed by two different sources, personal and information sources (Luo & Lam, 2020). Personal source refers to the combination of one's perceptions, expectations, memories and thoughts while information source refers to the external source about news, words from others and knowledge get from various platforms (Beerli & Martin, 2004; Sönmez & Graefe, 1998). However, Shih (1986) mentioned that everyone is a special individual that no one's travel intention is fixed. Continuous monitoring and research are much needed to learn about human's travel intention and behavior as time goes by. Travel intention before COVID-19 Travel intention is crucial in the tourism industry as it is the major factor of why people travel (Beerli & Martín, 2004; Chan et al., 2018). Before the pandemic, people could travel freely and pick the destination they desired; people choose a destination and whether to travel or not based on certain factors such as the elements including culture, travel intentions, budget, and previous experiences (Papatheodorou, 2006; Kajzar et al., 2022). According to previous studies, Vuuren and Slabbert (2011) investigated travel motivation and behavior of tourists to South African resorts across five different factors, which are recreational activities, resting and relaxation, personal values, social experiences, and enriching and learning experiences. Chan et al. (2018) analyzed the push-pull motivations of six groups of visitors to Country Parks in Hong Kong across five factors, including relaxation, exploring new things, facilities, natural scenery, and accessibility. Both demonstrate that rest and relaxation is an important factor in why people travel to a certain destination. In both studies, rest and relaxation show a high percentage of acceptance from the respondents. Moreover, In Vuuren and Slabbert's study (2011), the rest and relaxation factor show the highest mean value among all factors, indicating that it is the most crucial factor influencing and motivating people to travel. Nevertheless, Hennessy, Yun, and MacDonald (2016) found that value for money and overall satisfaction deliver positive and influencing correlations when it comes to tourists picking a neighboring destination to travel to or not. Regarding the study related to the Asia area, Kakyom (2007) also verifies this factor as one of the travel intentions with his study on national cultural festival-goers in Korea regarding their travel motivations. It is mentioned that overall satisfaction upholds a big portion when people decide. These match with
what Papatheodorou (2016) proposed, that budget is one of the major rationales for people choosing to go on travel or not. Cha et al. (1995) used the push and pull methodology to study and identify six travel motivational variables, including safety, knowledge, adventure, bragging rights, family and sports. They categorized three types of travelers as seeking sports, novelty, or family/relaxation experiences. Throughout the seekers, there were large variations in the factors. Although research on tourism market in Pennsylvania has been conducted personal safety has been the voted as the most important criteria in picking a travel destination (Shih, 1986; Sönmez & Graefe, 1998). Although safety and risk are seen in some researches considering as the most important criteria, however, these factors are still not commonly seen and recognized in previous studies before the outbreak of COVID-19. Travel intention during COVID-19 When COVID-19 hit the globe, it caused massive inconvenience and trouble for tourists worldwide (Li & Ito, 2021; Tsui et al., 2021). With the effect of the pandemic, people's travel behaviors and travel intentions change as they need to adapt to the travel restrictions imposed by different countries (Luo & Lam, 2020; Isaac & Keijzer, 2021). Medical and market information is much needed for the tourism industry to adapt to the different health pandemics (Cahyanto et al., 2016). However, for the travel-related changes to be adjusted and made during and after the pandemic, it is really important tounderstand the people's perceptions in-depth, allowing us to learn about and enliven the travel intention changes at the time (Lehto et al., 2008). The COVID-19 crisis has affected people's travel intentions seriously and enormously (Promsivapallop & Kannaovakun, 2017; Senbeto & Hon, 2020). Quintal et al. ( 2010 ) and Sánchez-Cañizares et al. (2020) concluded that perceived risk impacted tourists' attitudes, further affecting behavioral intention. Tourists' travel intentions and attitudes are more risk-averse, and risk becomes one of the top priorities to consider whether to travel or not. The following study supported the above statement. Ho Chi Minh City's tourism and travel services revenue fell by 69.2% in the first two months of 2021 compared to the same time in 2020. In May 2021, when the pandemic in Vietnam was under control, tourism income rose by 23.3% compared to the previous year (Bui, 2023). Bui (2023, P.2) has concluded that 'All above figures are reflected in changes in the domestic tourist's behavior and travel intention as they perceived all information risks arising from the pandemic.' Results of the study of the effect of COVID-19 perception on the travel intention of residents from Sapporo, Japan (Li & Ito, 2021) indicate that travel intentions are negatively affected by COVID-19 perceptions in the early phase of the pandemic. 'Similar result can be found from a study on the Fukushima nuclear accident, where revisit intention was also directly reduced by higher physical risk' (Li & Ito, 2021, P.499). However, Luo and Lam's study (2020) on the effect of fear of COVID-19 on Hong Kong residents found that fear of COVID-19 has a negative impact on locals' travel intentions which is caused by travel anxiety and risk-aversing attitude but a positive correlation cannot be proved
between travel intention and fear of COVID-19. Apart from Asia, a study of the travel intention of Serbians during the COVID-19 pandemic (Tepavčević et al., 2021) also shows identical results; a negative correlation between fear of COVID-19 and travel intention. Tepavčević et al. (2021) also mentioned it is true that people were scared of being infected, but it did not affect their travel intentions as after Serbia uplifted the travel restrictions, both local and international tourists' number greatly increased. This phenomenon is known as revenge tourism, supported by what Abullah (2021) advocated that tourists' travel intentions and decisions are driven by boredom during the period of strict isolation and travel restriction imposed. 2.1.3 Travel intention after COVID-19 Until now, with the ongoing vaccination effort and lower number of confirmed cases in the world, most countries have removed travel restrictions and preventive measures in their own areas to convenient people to resume travelling again. The United States eased all travel restrictions and opened its borders to all tourists, vaccinated or not vaccinated (U.S. Consulate General Hong Kong and Macau, 2023). Also, in Europe, starting from 13 December 2022, they have withdrawn all travel restrictions for tourists within or outside the Schengen area (European Union, 2023). However, COVID-19 is still found around the globe; however, the number of infected and death has greatly reduced than that between 2019-2022, in which more than 100 countries had only reported less than 1000 confirmed cases or even zero in the last 7 days (WHO, 2023). Although COVID-19 will not be completely eradicated and vanished, some consider now a post-COVID-19 period already as most travel restrictions are withdrawn, the vaccination rate is high, and most importantly, death and infected cases numbers are much lower than before. In a public speech in September, even President Biden said that the pandemic was over (Shmerling, 2022). Wang et al. (2020) suggested that changes on people's travel intentions are expected to see, as well as some travel motivations will be changed and remained for a long time even after COVID-19 completely over. One funny phenomenon that seen is that people prefer domestic travel rather than international travel as most of the borders were closed and the fear of the pandemic had held people back from travelling during the most dangerous time of the era. History/ Practice of Preventive Measures in a Pandemic In the past decades, humankind has experienced various diseases, viruses, and pandemics, yet we always manage to survive and weather the storm (Rajakaruna et al., 2017). According to Eisinger and Fauci (2018) and Kamarulzaman et al. (2016) studies, During Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) pandemic, different parties carried out various prevention to keep the pandemic under control. The first that they have mentioned is to advocate the use of condoms, clean medical supplies, and screen blood supply before use. Moreover, both parties have confirmed that prevention is the most effective and useful preventive strategy. Kamarulzaman and her team (2016) proposed that education and communication promotions helped to reduce risky behaviors, while most HIV and AIDS transmission is through sharing sharp objects and sexual intercourse. Australia, Switzerland, Canada, South Africa, and
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