The effects of conflict on risk perception and travelling intention of young tourists

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare the evaluations of various risks by young Israelis living in conflict area and their Polish counterparts, who do not live in conflict area and how these perceptions affect their traveling intentions to destinations with different types of risks – Egypt, Turkey, India and Japan. Design/methodology/approach – The research participants were 713 Israeli and Polish students who responded to a structured questionnaire. Findings – The findings validate the assumption that contextual distinctions shape differently factors affecting traveling risk estimation and the intention of young people to travel abroad. The results indicated that the priming effect is substantial, reflected in Israelis’ significantly higher assessments of risks concerning destinations with terror, health and natural disasters hazards in comparison to Poles’ evaluations. As predicted, Israeli students exhibit lesser intentions to travel to Turkey, Egypt and India than their Polish counterparts. The study also showed similarities between Israeli and Polish students. Young tourists’ with strong aversion to health hazards exhibit low intention to travel to India and those refraining from economic crisis are reluctant to travel to Egypt. The intention to travel to Japan and India decreased with high perception of destination risks. Originality/value – The current study constitutes a new departure in studying the contextual effects on travel-related decision making. It focusses on the impact of conflict ridden environment on intentions, attitudes and risks perception of young tourists with respect to traveling to risky destinations, previously hardly studied.