ANALYZING FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE DOMESTIC TOURISTS INTENTION TOWARD INDONESIAN WELLNESS TOURISM DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

• Main Author: Syarafina Aribah, Dina
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/66658
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the tourism industry as one of the biggest worldwide employment and growth domestic product (GDP) contributions for a number of countries experienced a significant drop, no exception in Indonesia. In response to this phenomenon, previous researches suggest that tourism industry actors should change their focus to promoting the concept of sustainable and wellness tourism, then target domestic tourists since people becoming more aware of their physical and mental health. Wellness tourism is a type of travel that is done to enhance one's health by visiting areas that specialize in providing accommodations, amenities, health specialists, and tourism activity programs that are similar to mental and physical recovery activities for tourists. Despite being the fastest-growing and most profitable part of the tourism industry, there is still a lack of information on the industry especially in Indonesia during the pandemic of Covid-19, making it difficult for tourism practitioners to develop wellness tourism. This study aims to determine the domestic tourists' demand for Indonesian wellness tourism by analyzing the factors that influence their behavioral intention during the Covid-19 pandemic using the modified Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) by incorporating the health consciousness variable. Besides, the study also tries to provide marketing suggestions to assist tourism practitioners in developing long-term business strategies based on the Indonesian wellness tourism opportunity. Adopting quantitative methodology, the primary data collected 299 respondents of Indonesian domestic tourists aged 18 years above through online questionnaires using convenient sampling. The data was analyzed using Partial Least Square Structured Equation Model (PLS-SEM) to test the hypothesis and PLS Multi-Group Analysis (PLS-MGA) to see whether there is any significant difference among the segmentation group. Results found that all the TPB variables (attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, respectively) have a significant positive influence on domestic tourists' behavioral intention towards wellness tourism during the pandemic, except the health consciousness variable. In general, there is also no significant difference among different segment groups (gender, age, education level), but in the group of people who had 2 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, subjective norms no longer become one of the influencing factors. Additionally, it is also known that statistically Indonesian domestic tourists’ intention is still at a moderate level and their health consciousness level is high. Various marketing recommendations as practical implications are proposed at the end of the study. Keywords: tourism, wellness, domestic, intention, pandemic.