ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has heavily affected the global travel and tourism industries. Closed borders, reduction of flights, strict travel restrictions, lockdown measures, and social distancing have resulted in a reluctance of tourists to travel, and led to a huge drop in tourist flows. In this context, the aim of this chapter is to investigate the changes that the pandemic brought to the travel behaviour, preferences, and holiday intentions of the Greeks. To meet this objective, a survey was conducted via a structured self-completed online questionnaire with a sample of 652 people in Greece in February 2021. The results revealed a very large drop in the number of trips due to multiple reasons (e.g. fear of COVID-19, scarcity of flights, travel restrictions, closed tourism businesses, and reduction in disposable income). In addition, not only significant changes in various aspects of participants’ travel behaviour were observed, but also an optimism that the rollout of vaccines is an important step in restoring confidence and restarting tourism. The findings of this study can prove useful for tourism practitioners, policymakers, and academic researchers interested in understanding the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on travel behaviour.
