Understanding the COVID-19 tourist psyche: The Evolutionary Tourism Paradigm

Abstract

Studies across the social sciences are making increasing use of an evolutionary perspective. Yet, despite its potential, the application of evolutionary psychology in tourism research is scant. Evolutionary psychology is arguably one of the most useful approaches to understanding the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic on the tourist's psyche. This research highlights, explains, and empirically demonstrates the vast untapped potential of this perspective for post-COVID-19 tourism research. The authors develop an Evolutionary Tourism Paradigm, which is based on biological epistemology and theory to address questions in post-COVID-19 tourism research. This paradigm is brought to life through a developed ocean and islands model, and its utility for future research endeavors on the Coronavirus pandemic is empirically demonstrated in two studies.

Highlights

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  Development of the Evolutionary Tourism Paradigm

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  Development of the ocean and islands model

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  Investigating the COVID-19 effects on the tourists' psyche

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  Conceptually and empirically linking the pandemic to xenophobia and ethnocentrism