Understanding the role of risk (perception) in destination choice: A literature review and synthesis

Safety and security are key aspects for the success of tourism in every destination. Rather than objective risks, it is rather the tourist\u27s individual and subjective perception of these risks that mostly influence destination choice and in the long run tourism flows from one country to another. The concept of risk perception has been highly studied in tourism, however the literature remains fragmented resulting in lack of a cohesive and comprehensive framework. It is not yet clear how risk perception as one important determinant of destination choice acts as an influencing factor in the destination choice process. The purpose of this paper is to review and synthesise literature from tourism research and other disciplines on risk and particularly risk perception to develop a framework that offers a better understanding of the role of risk (perception) in the destination choice process. Although travel decision-making and destination choice is a negotiation process between tourist needs and destination offer, most past research has mainly concentrated on the tourist rather than the specific attributes of a destination. The aim is therefore to develop a literature-based framework, including tourist and destination attributes, which is built upon a meta-review of fundamental and recent studies from various disciplines

COVID-19 and the Pandemic\u27s Spatio-Temporal Impact on Tourism Demand in Bavaria (Germany)

Being a unique hazard, COVID-19 led to various global distortions. Tourism was significantly affected, and numerous authors are discussing future implications for the industry. However, only a few studies consider the effects of COVID-19-related measures on tourism\u27s demand side. For the state of Bavaria (Germany), we introduce the relevant legislative measures and their implications on tourism demand. Following Sigala\u27s (2020) suggestion, we illustrate the tourism demand development during the pandemic in space and time by analysing Bavaria\u27s overnight stays on the districts\u27 administrative level. For the first nine months of the ongoing pandemic, we identify the district\u27s population density, its relative location to major cities, and tourism intensity being decisive for both, decline and recovery. Recommendations for policy action can be derived directly from the different spatial and temporal developments we have identified. Thus, it appears that individual districts vary considerably, especially in the speed and extent of their recovery following the first shutdown, in part due to the factors identified. Due to the varying degrees to which the districts and their tourism businesses recover after the crisis, we argue that customised, regionally differentiated political measures should be considered

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure