Travel booking intentions and information searching during COVID-19

Purpose This exploratory paper examined consumers' use of information sources and intentions to book future travel in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Authors expected that general news and travel information accessed on the Internet would impact travel intentions. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 547 US online consumer panelists when all states were under “stay-at-home orders” in April 2020. Findings Differences existed in the impact of three stressors (health, personal and financial) on the use of information sources (general news and travel sources) and ultimately on booking intentions. Practical implications The lack of influence health stressors had on travel research activity raises a question for the travel industry as to critical choice of messages to be imparted during pandemic environments. Originality/value A three-factor model was used to assess the determinants of booking intentions during uncertain times. Authors applied the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) framework to explore information searching for travel during the pandemic.