CHANGING PARADIGMS OF TRAVEL MOTIVATIONS POST COVID- 19

COVID-19 pandemic has placed the tourism industry under unprecedented stress in the last few months. During this uncertainty, tourism and hospitality is one sector which has been severely affected due to the restrictions on travel. Despite the difficulties created by the Novel Corona Virus, the tourism and hospitality industry is confident and getting ready for a speedy recovery with a new normal scenario soon. Countries are resolving strategies to welcome tourism with new standard norms. There will be no easy and fast return to business as earlier. At the same time, the demand for travelling and consumer confidence is a matter of concern today. Space, time and interactions were the early conditions for the tourist experience which may not be the same from now. However, the factors which determine the travel motivations, travel decision making and plans about the destination experiences are expected to undergo a substantial transformation in the days to come. As travel motives and destination behaviour were being influenced by psychological factors (Li and Zhang, 2013), there is a need to understand the transformative possibilities which are critical to understand the market. This study aims at unveiling the shift in the tourist motivation during post COVID. Data had been collected from target respondents by giving representation for each demographic group. Exploratory Factor analysis has been done for the data collected from the survey to identify the Factorial Structure of the observed variables. The underlying groups based on travel experience were identified using hierarchical cluster analysis and the significant differences among the group were tested using independent sample t-test. The result of the study reveals the shift in motivational factors of Travel Career Pattern (Pearce and Lee (2005)) during COVID 19 and an underlying new factor that has evolved during the complexity or constraints that pose to travel during these days.