This Letter updates and expands a study conducted during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. That study confirmed the applicability of Plog's model of Allocentricity and Psychocentricity within the context of the pandemic, as Allocentrics were found to be much more open to travel during the first 4 months of the pandemic, as the theory would predict. The current research, employing the identical survey instrument and research method, extended the data collection for an additional year as the pandemic evolved. This has allowed a far more extensive examination that confirmed and expanded the earlier findings, providing significant value to both academics and practitioners while again affirming the value of Plog's model for destination marketers during a period of crisis.

Purpose Travel decreased dramatically during the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, only to return rapidly to prepandemic levels once the degree of fear toward the virus began to diminish among potential travelers. This USA-based 16-month repeated-measure cross-sectional survey study aims to explore the degree to which fear of COVID affected people’s decisions to stay home rather than to travel during the pandemic. Design/methodology/approach The research used survey data. An extensive data set, composed of over 9,500 respondents, collected through Mechanical Turk over a 16-month time period, was used to compare respondent fear of the pandemic both with their attitudes toward future travel and with Smith Travel Research data reflecting actual pandemic travel patterns. Findings The results demonstrate how fear of COVID was closely and negatively linked to both travel intentions and travel behavior. Research limitations/implications Data were collected from US respondents only. Practical implications The findings significantly extend earlier studies and provide guidance for those studying travel consumer behavior regarding trends that should be monitored in the case of a future pandemic or other fear-inducing crisis. For hospitality and tourism managers and marketers, understanding fear as a leading indicator of future travel behavior can result in more timely promotional efforts and staffing and training decisions. Social implications Measuring and understanding consumer fear levels as this relates to travel decisions can help in the future to adjust the message that is sent to the public, perhaps reducing the amount of travel taken during periods when this is unwise and or unsafe. Originality/value This paper extends previous work that had been based upon cross-sectional reviews, providing a broader and more valuable study of an important and timely consumer behavior travel topic.

'Southern hospitality' is a central pillar of tourism and culture in the southern U.S. Traditionally associated with a rural, southern style of politeness, it is unclear how this regional form of hospitality is influenced by externally-driven growth. Also, some perceive it as a romanticized myth built upon racial injustice. This study explored the meanings of southern hospitality in Charleston, South Carolina, a rapidly growing city that has become a popular tourism destination partly due to its reputation for southern hospitality. An initial research phase asked 730 U.S. travellers via survey to define southern hospitality. It was found to be associated with host kindness and food/beverage, and respondents who had visited Charleston were more likely to hold positive views towards it. A second research phase involved asking about southern hospitality in oral history interviews with 55 Charleston residents. Five underlying themes were revealed - kindness and openness, a (possibly disappearing) way of life, food and beverage, the hospitality and tourism sector, and veneer and facade. Overall, southern hospitality was seen as a genuine cultural attribute present in both the private and commercial spheres, and as a mostly positive trait that also contained some problematic elements. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically altered people’s travel behaviors. This research, based upon a set of data that encompassed 16 months of the pandemic, looks at a significant US sample to determine, from a political perspective, who was most likely to travel at a time when the science and their government were suggesting they stay home. The results, extending prior research, found a strong relationship between political party affiliation and one’s travel proclivity, with Republicans, the conservative American political party, far more likely to have indicated their likelihood to travel during the pandemic than were more liberal Democrats. The theories of Perceived Behavioral Control and Social Amplification of Risk are considered as concepts to help explain the differences between the two segments and serve as guides for the recommendations provided for travel marketing during future crises.

Fear of missing out (FOMO) is defined as “a pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent” (Przybylski et al., 2013, p. 1841). Zhang, Jimenez, and Cicala (2020) suggest that FOMO is actually an emotional reaction to one’s perceived psychological threat to one’s self-concept. It is reported that individuals with “High FOMO” are likely to exhibit higher usage of social media (Przybylski et al., 2013). Messaging that fosters a fear of missing out is considered an important sport marketing communications tool (Larkin & Fink, 2016). This study intends to explore the effect of FOMO in promoting sports events, in relation to involvement and the use of Internet technology (e.g., social media). This research project is a result of a multi-year FOMO study on a sports marketing effort in the southeastern US to increase attendance at a local ESPN College Basketball Tournament. In Study 1, we hypothesized that all three interest measures (interest in learning about the event, in attending the event, and in inviting friends to the event) are higher among participants in the high-FOMO condition that included the “Don’t Miss Out” message. It was also hypothesized that consumer involvement is a significant moderator of this effect. Lastly, it was hypothesized that interest is positively correlated with technology use. The results showed a significant interaction between gender and involvement for the dependent variable of interest in learning more about the event and substantially lower levels of interest in attending among female, light social media users that received the “Don’t Miss Out” message compared to other females. In Study 2, we hypothesized that interest and attendance intentions will be higher among subjects in the high-FOMO condition. It was also hypothesized that individual FOMO levels will moderate the relationship between appeal type (i.e., loss-framed or not) and interest/attendance intentions. Lastly, we hypothesized that basketball involvement will moderate the relationship between appeal type and interest/attendance intentions. The preliminary results of this study have provided insights into the FOMO appeal in the age of technology (Internet and social media) for marketing managers as well as marketing researchers. The Don’t Miss Out message might not have the intended effect, as the preliminary results of this study suggest. As Filo, Lock, and Karg (2015) pointed out, there is a profound impact of social media usage on sports management due to its importance in cultivating relationships. Individual’s technology and social media usage as social behavior may be a signal of the individual’s need (or lack thereof) to be part of a group attending a sports event and thus affect FOMO’s promotional effectiveness.

The current study uses a local, charity-linked running event that attracts attendants with different motivations to participate and attitudes toward corporate social responsibility (CSR) to examine the effectiveness of sponsorship decisions for two primary, concurrent sponsors. Using a structural equation model for each sponsor, we find that the importance attached to various channels that influence sponsorship effectiveness to be sponsor specific. For the luxury automobile sponsor in our study, an attendant's motivation to participate is the only statistically significant and direct path to intention to purchase. Furthermore, although CSR also links to fit, the fit has no direct path to intention to purchase. This finding could potentially indicate that participants view the luxury automobile sponsorship as a positive expression of CSR, rather than through the event's lens. This finding implies that the luxury automobile dealer's sponsorship gains are not dependent on the event but the cause's support. In contrast, the sponsorship gains for the sports retailer are dependent on the event, where event satisfaction, event leverage, and event fit all have indirect paths to intention to purchase. Additionally, motivation to participate and the importance of CSR operates through different, indirect paths to intention to purchase for the sports retailer. Although motivation to participate positively impacts event satisfaction and event satisfaction positively influences intention to purchase, CSR's importance operates through fit, which positively impacts intention to purchase. Our results for the sports retailer indicate an increased fit with the event enhances the sponsor's perceptions as socially responsible and enhances the intentions to purchase the sponsor's goods. Furthermore, a well-liked event increases the likelihood a participant will purchase the sports retailer's products.

Young consumers are major targets for necessary interventions to change consumption habits to address environmental sustainability challenges. The current study provides a comparison of a Western and an Asian culture, examining several key psychological and social influences to determine which can be most closely linked to the recycling behaviors of U.S. and Chinese young consumers. The results suggest both Chinese and U.S. students may be responsive to grassroots efforts to motivate recycling behaviors through peer groups. Opportunities for consumer socialization of green behaviors through family ties may also exist. This study provides valuable insight into key drivers of young consumers' recycling behavior for two important market segments.

The purpose of this study was to examine how participants perceived sponsorships of companies supporting charity-linked events. Using a charity run as a case study, participants were asked to rate five sponsors responses related to their fit, recall, and intention to purchase. Our results confirm the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as positively associated with equity, as measured by intention to purchase from sponsors. We also find that the participants' initial attitudes and motives affect their intention to purchase from sponsors. In particular, participants who attended the event for the charity are more likely to purchase from the charity-linked event sponsors. These results indicate that sponsors of this charity-linked event in order to make the sponsorship effective should examine sponsorship opportunities against its strategy with an understanding of the event participants, the potential customers they need to engage, and the firm's responsibility as a citizen of the communities in which it operates.

The need to make profit affects the overall ability of a festival to operate. Merchandise sales are one way to increase revenue and also promote a festival. This study conducted a field experiment to test willingness to pay theory at the Canadian Mariposa Folk Festival. Results indicated that personal sales efforts, Canadian and sustainability branded merchandise increased sales and profitability. Implications from this study demonstrate that brands that match the market sell best but festival managers need to understand their market and their margins if they wish to capitalise on increased revenues.

This research adds to the overall literature and academic understanding of early career progression of hospitality professionals. The results of an analysis of the career profiles of graduates of an undergraduate business school majoring in Hospitality and Tourism Management indicate that there are five potential career paths for hospitality professionals graduating from this program. The groups are (1) Traditional Hospitality; (2) Stallers; (3) Nonhospitality; (4) Loyalists; and (5) Entrepreneurs. The findings indicate that there is substantial job movement in the first three years after graduation. Further, if promotion happens within the first 6 months to a year, graduates are more likely to stay with the organization. Finally, those that leave hospitality are likely to go into highly related fields such as health care and real estate.

Sales and purchases of socially and environmentally responsible festival clothing are a way for festival attendees to engage in ethical consumption and for event organizers to undertake sustainable procurement. Although there have been a number of studies examining willingness-to-pay (WTP), few of them examine this in a festival setting, and there is a gap in existing research regarding the determination of actual behavior. The goal of this study is therefore to explore participants' willingness-to-pay for apparel based on more external motivations (visible environmental messages) and then ascertain whether this behavior was actually replicated in a natural field setting. This study first collected surveys from 427 festival-goers in 2015, then used a natural field experiment in 2016 to investigate whether attendees at the Mariposa Folk Festival in Ontario, Canada, would actually be prepared to pay a premium for ethical festival T-shirts over a conventional alternative. The findings reveal that attendees not only showed a willingness-to-pay but they also did actually pay a premium for such T-shirts.

A quasi-experiment is used to examine the dynamics of the shared decision-making process by observing couples in real time as they make decisions about an overnight stay at a luxury resort. Observations and video recordings of the decision processes of 24 couples were coded and analyzed. The time to final decision, number, and type of tactics used were found to vary with couples' length of experience with one another. Observation indicated that couples with greater travel experience together relied on predealing based on their experience together to avoid conflict, while less-experienced couples' decisions were more likely to yield winners and losers. These findings and those related to the use of persuasive tactics by members of the couple dyads provide the basis for specific recommendations for marketing travel products.

This article examines participant recall of a total of 87 sponsorships of a local running event over a 5- year period. Participant unaided recall was measured with an online survey administered shortly after the events. The study then used management interviews, event observation, and sponsorship data to provide an indepth analysis of recall. The results indicate that sponsor engagement with event participants is the key factor in optimizing recall. Sponsors maximizing leveraging opportunities received much higher level of recall than those that did not. Lower level sponsors received almost no unaided recall except in specialized cases.

Apparel and the attributes they portray have an opportunity to influence the willingness to pay (WTP) of those who purchase them. While there have been a number of studies examining WTP, few examine purchases in a festival setting. The goal of this study was to explore participants' WTP for apparel based on a more external motivation (visible environmental message) and/or an internal motivation (environmentally sustainable certification) at a festival. A total of 427 structured surveys were administered at a folk music festival in Canada. The study examined two differing approaches to product design for environmentally linked apparel: a message visible on the outside of the garment vs. an environmental certification inside the garment. A contingent valuation methodology was used to measure WTP and analysis conducted with Repeated Measures ANOVA. Results indicate that both product designs significantly increased WTP for the t-shirt as described. Implications of this study suggest that an enhanced understanding of the factors influencing attendee's WTP for apparel attributes can lead to better meeting the wants of attendees, more sales and higher margins on sales.

The sponsorship decision criteria for a local, but significant, non-sporting event is examined via in depth interviews and a grounded theory-based qualitative methodology. Transcripts of in depth interviews of the key sponsorship decision makers at 30 sponsoring firms across a range of business categories were systematically coded to identify sponsorship decision criteria. 29 of the 30 respondents mentioned 'fit' as a key criterion in the decision to sponsor. Further probing during the interviews revealed that the concept of 'fit' takes on multiple dimensions and meanings: 1) an altruism component of community goodwill and personal linkage; 2) a marketing component of both business-to-business and business-to-consumer; 3) an internal organisation component of employee relations and employee involvement were determined to be variations in the defining of the concept. Findings are discussed and directions for future research identified.

This study examines whether event factors (satisfaction with the event, attitudes towards the event, and attitudes toward the activity) or program factors (sponsor fit and perceptions of corporate citizenship) are the most influential in shaping participants' attitudes towards sponsors. Structural Equation Modeling was applied to data from an annual charitable run located in the southeastern US. Results indicate that the quality of the event was a secondary factor in determining brand equity transference between sponsors and participants as measured by attitude toward the sponsors. Perceptions of corporate citizenship and sponsor fit were the most influential factors in transference. Overall this study addresses the need to examine local and smaller events and sponsorship effects.

Hotels have attempted numerous approaches to encourage guests to participate in linen-reuse programs. One of the most promising methods is to use appropriate message framing. A study of 427 travelers to Charleston, South Carolina, examined the participants' opinion of how they would respond to various message frames. A comparison of the messages that are framed as gains versus those framed as losses found that the guests generally responded to a message framed as avoiding a loss, in this case, one that said don't miss out. However, the study also found that mentioning the destination city by name effectively trumped the loss framing. Particularly for first-time travelers, specifically mentioning Charleston in the message increased the respondents' opinion that they would be likely to participate in a linen-reuse program. The destination name had less effect for returning travelers, who did, however, respond to the don't miss out message.

In recent years, numerous studies have examined perceptions and attitudes toward sales. However, most suffer a common limitation, the failure to differentiate between retail and industrial sales.

Clusters banks according to their adoption and implementation of the marketing concept. Data collected from approximately 90 banks from a 15-state area are reported. Comparisons are made between the four clusters as to structural implementation and adoption of the concept and performance and environment.