The Influence of Mass Media on Tourist Behavior of People Living in a Country Bordering War

The article examines the impact of war and war news in the mass media on the behaviour of tourists, based on a survey conducted in mid-2022 among a sample of 1036 respondents, citizens of a country close to the conflict in Ukraine. The tourism sector has suffered numerous crises triggered by various events that are essentially incompatible with the development of travel. War is a factor with a particular impact, but the academic literature regarding the impact on tourist behaviour during a conflict is insufficient. The study aims to investigate the mechanisms by which proximity of war influences tourists decisions of tourists in Romania, one of the neighbouring countries of the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, in terms of travel intention and destination choice. The results show that people do not give up tourism, but they are influenced by the news about the war in the media, and the possible panic caused by the news about the war influences their choice of destinations. Thus, an intuitive behaviour to avoid areas that are considered at risk due to the war is shown, but a panic control ability is also developed, which influences tourist behaviour both directly and as a mediator between the panic triggered by the mass media and the tourist behaviour to avoid conflict areas.