Travel Risks vs Tourist Decision Making: A Tourist Perspective

This paper sheds light on tourists emotional experiences on holiday, which are central to increase our understanding of tourist behavior. Tourists usually travel to cities with good impression. Choosing a travel destination is definitely a complicated decision-making process for tourists. For safety concerns, some tourists intentionally visit somewhere familiar and nearby, but avoid nations or areas with high crime rates or political instability. A wide range of perceptions governs the desirability and appeal of a destination to the potential traveler. The importance of investigating perceptions of travel risks has been recognized with in a number of different disciplines, such as psychology, sociology, criminology and marketing. It is often assumed that perceptions of safety and security may influence individuals destination choice. Consumers use information gathered from various sources like word of mouth, different forms of media, guidebooks, talking to friends and relatives, to form a perception of a particular destination. This is a quantitative study conducted in Malaysia. The respondents who participated in this research were the nationals of Malaysia, India, China, Indonesia, Australia, and France, etc. The study found that most holidaymakers perceive earthquake, tsunami, SARS, terrorist activities, swine flu as risk. The results of the study suggest that safety, peace and stability are major concerns for tourists while choosing their travel destination.