Determining the Holiday Expectations of Turkish Tourists After the Health Risk of COVID-19 Epidemic

Abstract

Tourist behaviour might be easily affected from a variety of environmental factors in a negative way and the threats towards the health of tourists appear as the main one among these effects. Uncertainty caused by COVID-19 poses a major problem for the tourism sector and tourists. This study aims to identify the expectations and opinions of Turkish tourists towards going on holiday after the COVID- 19 pandemic that originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan and spread around the world. Due to the various local and regional restrictions in the framework of measures against the ongoing pandemic, interviews were held online through forms. 571 participants took part in the study. According to the results, tourists changed their holiday plans after the outbreak of COVID-19. A majority of the tourists stated that they consider going on holiday in a period between July-October and prefer smallscale accommodation in boutique hotels. In addition, tourists state that tourism establishments must take cleaning, hygiene and social distancing measures. The findings of this study might contribute to shape the activities of tourism establishments.