Understanding tourists’ protection motivations when faced with overseas travel after COVID-19: the case of South Koreans travelling to China

COVID-19, as a global public health crisis, represents a major concern for international tourism. This study aims to explore the influence of COVID-19 on international tourists’ self-protection motivations, and the role of mass media in this process. Protection motivation theory (PMT) was adopted as the guiding theoretical framework, and mass media coverage was integrated into the model as a moderating construct. Online survey data were collected to explain and predict the protection motivation of potential tourists from South Korea travelling to China under the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was performed to examine the significant factors that could evoke self-protection motivation. Results indicate that respondents’ perceptions of the severity of the pandemic and self-efficacy as a coping strategy have the greatest impact on self-protection motivations. Furthermore, positive mass media coverage moderates the relationship between self-efficacy and self-protection motivation, while negative mass media coverage moderates the relationship between vulnerability and self-protection motivation. Theoretical and practical implications on how to encourage travel in a post-pandemic period are discussed.