Factors Affecting Visiting Behavior to Bali during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Extended Theory of Planned Behavior Approach

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic affected tourists’ traveling behavior and resulted in the stoppage of Bali’s tourism growth. Hence, this study aimed to determine the factors that influence Indonesians to travel to Bali during the COVID-19 pandemic by utilizing the extended theory of planned behavior (TBP) approach. A total of 269 respondents participated in the survey and answered forty (40) questions developed from seven (7) latent variables. Structural equation modeling (SEM) specified that hedonic motivation had the highest direct effect on tourist traveling intention, followed by attitude, and COVID-19 safety protocols. Meanwhile, social media influence, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norms were insignificant to tourists’ intention to travel during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings contributed to the proposed strategies that increased the number of local and international tourists. Since this study aimed to stabilize the tourism sector and improve the economy in Bali, the government and tourism stakeholders benefit from the results.

1. Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected tourists’ traveling behavior, resulting in a steep decrease in the number of travelers. Specifically, people are more interested in staying at home than traveling [1]. COVID-19 affects travel behavior since tourists are afraid of being infected by the virus while enjoying leisure. Hence, it prevents people from traveling, especially to high-risk areas [1].

Bali is well known as Pulau Dewata, an island that worships gods and goddesses. It is full of cultural forms from their ancestors. Not only is it rich in cultural stuff, but its natural wealth is also well known, which attracts many tourists across the world. Every year, around six million tourists come to the island [2]. Since Bali’s economy is centered on the tourism sector, many people visit the island for leisure [3]. Almost all activities and sceneries are accessible in Bali, including beaches, water sports, cafes, bars, clubs, top-star hotels and resorts, and international brand shops. Some tourist spots are crowded and challenging to visit during peak hours. There are a lot of tourists who choose to stay in Bali for work and holidays for months. Hence, many tourists consider it a norm to settle in Bali and put up a business eventually. They open travel accommodations and offer tours to the cultural site [3]. This tourist behavior improves the economic growth of Bali. However, the COVID-19 pandemic affected tourists’ travel behavior due to protocols and risks. From March to July 2020, Bali did not accept any tourists, resulting in a complete shutdown [4]. Since 60% of Bali’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is associated with the tourism industry, the drastic downfall of Bali’s economy is evident [5]. In July 2020, Bali started to accept a few local tourists. However, the economy continuously struggled due to constant COVID-19 transmission among tourists [6]. In January 2021, Bali started accepting international tourists, and the government is hopeful for recovery.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the tourist sites in Bali were closed or opened with occupancy limitations. According to the COVID-19 National Task Force, tourists need to present a negative result on the PCR test within 72 h before the departure time. Despite the reopening of Bali to all tourists, foreign tourists were severely limited. Specifically, there were only 45 international tourists from January to October 2021 [2]. This number was reported as the lowest count of international tourists throughout the opening of Bali. Thus, the closure of tourist attractions and implementation of COVID-19 protocols caused the decline of various types of businesses affiliated with tourism, such as wholesale and retail trade, accommodation, food and beverages, processing industries, service industries, and transportation. These limitations impact almost every sector in Bali, including the economy, employment, health, and quality of life.

The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated Bali’s economy. As a result, the economy has steeply declined. Bali’s economic downturn due to the pandemic is rooted in Bali’s dependence on the tourism sector [3]. Meanwhile, alternative sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, construction, and education/health services are poorly managed. For instance, Bali stakeholders put long-term plans on travel and tourism services. They only implemented short-term revenue generation programs for alternative sectors [3]. There is a lack of organizational learning, resulting in failure to prepare other sectors to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, this circumstance led to the downfall of Bali’s economy. A past study noted that organizations should be dynamic to cope with the pandemic easily [3]. Thus, further study is needed to identify tourists’ traveling intentions, which could help Bali’s economy survive during the pandemic.

Several studies have been conducted to identify factors affecting travel intention behavior during the pandemic. Wachyuni and Kusumaningrum [7] conducted a study that focused on factors affecting travel intention on a tour after the pandemic ends. Sembada and Kalantari [8] determined travel intention focused on religiosity and familial obligation factors. Lemy et al. [9] investigated travel intentions to Bali. They utilized push and pull factors to identify tourist travel motivation and their impact on satisfaction and destination loyalty toward Bali in the post-pandemic era. Furthermore, Bhaskara and Filimonau [3] studied the effects of COVID-19 on Bali’s tourism-related businesses.

Although previous studies investigated travel intention during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a distinct lack of comprehensive academic research that evaluates tourists’ travel intention to Bali during the COVID-19 pandemic by utilizing the extended theory of planned behavior (TPB). Wachyuni and Kusumaningrum [8] conducted an exploratory factor analysis instead of adopting existent theories. Sembada and Kalantari [8] only focused on the familial issues influencing Indonesian traveler’s motivation to travel during the pandemic. Lemy et al. [9] studied push and pull approach in determining factors affecting destination loyalty toward Bali. The research methodology of Bhaskara and Filimonau [3] is descriptive, without the influence of multivariate statistical analysis. Moreover, none of the past studies [7,8,9] utilized social media influence and hedonic motivations as the factors affecting traveling intention behavior. Hence, a study utilizing extended TPB in determining people’s intention to visit Bali during COVID-19 is essential to help the industry recover from economic loss.

Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is a physiological model that connects an individual’s belief to behavior toward certain conditions [10]. Based on the original TPB, attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control help determine an individual’s behavioral intention. Attitude reflects the person’s opinion, subjective norm is instigated by peer pressure, and perceived behavioral control is the act of ease or difficulty of performing the behavior [10]. The TPB is widely used to understand various behaviors, including health and travel behavior [7,10]. Thus, TPB is the most suitable theory to identify the factors affecting individuals’ travel intention behavior to Bali during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the original TPB’s latent variables are vague and lack details about tourists’ travel behavior and the COVID-19 situation. Thus, the researchers extended the TPB by adding the following variables: hedonic motivation, COVID-19 safety protocol, and social media influence. Hedonic motivation pertains to traveler’s positive emotions and is commonly felt by planning a trip and enjoying travel destinations [11]. Next, the COVID-19 safety protocol is a necessary variable to identify if travelers are affected by its impact on travel industry. Third, social media influence affects the subject by knowing the travel and COVID-19 perceptions of random users from online platforms [12]. These three additional latent variables contribute to travel behavior and the COVID-19 situation.

Based on the presented gaps, the following research problems are formulated: (1) How can the extended TPB identify the traveler’s visiting behavior to Bali during the COVID-19 pandemic? (2) What are the significant factors affecting traveler’s intention to Bali during the COVID-19 pandemic?

The purpose of this study is to determine factors that influence Indonesians’ intention to travel to Bali by utilizing TPB. In this paper, we define the strategies to increase the number of local and international tourists. Moreover, this study aims to stabilize the tourism sector and improve the economy in Bali and connected cities. Hence, the government and business owners can apply the practical implications suggested by the researchers. Furthermore, this research contributes to academicians through the application of extended TPB. Other researchers can improve the proposed TPB in their future studies.

The rest of this research study is structured as follows. In Section 2, we present the structural equation modeling (SEM) framework of the extended TPB. In Section 3, we propose the study’s methodology, consisting of participants and data gathering, questionnaire construction, and statistical analysis. Next, in Section 4, we provide the study’s results, while in Section 5, we discuss the presented results. Finally, in Section 6, we demonstrate the concluding remarks.

2. Theoretical Framework

The theoretical framework illustrates the research model of the study. It depicts the extended TPB, bounded by human perceptions, travel behavior, and the COVID-19 situation. Bali is primarily a tourism industry that continuously invites local and international tourists. Since tourists are the key driver, it is vital to identify tourist’s visiting behavior in Bali during the COVID-19 pandemic through the presented theoretical framework.

Based on Figure 1, six (6) exogenous latent variables affect travel intention. These consist of attitude (ATT), hedonic motivations (HM), subjective norms (SN), perceived behavioral control (PBC), COVID-19 safety protocols (CSP), and social media influence (SMI). Furthermore, the figure shows one endogenous latent variable, namely travel intention. Six (6) hypotheses were formulated to identify the factors affecting visiting behavior to Bali during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to TPB, attitude toward the behavior strongly influences people’s intention to perform a certain behavior [10]. In the case of tourism, attitude is the feeling or perception toward a travel destination based on travel experience [11]. Some studies stated that traveler’s attitude helps shape behavioral intentions in visiting a travel destination [13,14]. Moreover, traveler’s attitude is formed by assessing the advantages and benefits of visiting the destination place [15,16]. Hence, the researchers hypothesized the following:

Hypothesis 1 (H1).

Attitude had a significant direct effect on travel intention.

Hedonic motivations are traveler’s intrinsic factors such as happiness, pleasure, relaxation, and contentedness, which can drive people’s intention to perform a certain behavior [11]. During the COVID-19 pandemic, people felt stressed because they were refrained from going out of their houses. Traveling to leisure destinations seems to be a desirable option to escape from reality and find liberation. These intrinsic factors are evident through traveling and are considered an influential motivation to drive people’s intention to travel during the pandemic. Hedonic motivation was deemed a significant variable that affects tourists’ behavioral intention due to its novelty and emotional value [17]. Therefore, the researchers hypothesized the following:

Hypothesis 2 (H2).

Hedonic motivations had a significant direct effect on travel intention.

Subjective norms are the rules and restrictions established by society that one should follow [18]. A society designs the norms for performing a certain behavior [18]. It refers to the norms which individuals follow under societal pressure. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the rate of people going traveling decreased drastically. With the high risks of being infected with the COVID-19 virus and spreading it further, people would think twice about society’s perceptions. Most especially, risk-taker travelers might receive mixed reactions from the society since everyone thinks differently. Therefore, the researchers hypothesized the following:

Hypothesis 3 (H3).

Subjective norms had a significant direct effect on travel intention.

Perceived behavioral control is one of the essential aspects of determining people’s vacation wishes. It refers to the degree of ease or difficulty of traveling to a destination place [18]. Regardless of the personalities, everyone always desires to travel or enjoy leisure time [19,20]. In these situations, these people couldn’t fulfill their desire for vacations because of the PSBB (Pembatasan Sosial Berskala Besar/Large-Scale Social Restriction) and PPKM (Pemberlakuan Pembatasan Kegiatan Masyarakat/Community Restrictions). Some tourists would not mind regulations because of the pile of boredom. These tourists tend to perform all means to fulfill their leisure needs. Therefore, the researchers hypothesized the following:

Hypothesis 4 (H4).

Perceived behavioral control had a significant direct effect on travel intention.

COVID-19 safety protocol may have a direct or indirect impact on deciding whether to travel. Global travel, tourism, and leisure have been halted because of the health communication strategies and measures [21]. Traveling intention itself has been affected by the COVID-19 and resulted in a decrease in tourists [2]. In addition, not all people are good at following protocol. Authorized officers sanctioned some people due to their lack of adherence to COVID-19 protocols [22]. Therefore, the researchers hypothesized the following:

Hypothesis 5 (H5).

COVID-19 safety protocol had a significant direct effect on travel intention.

Social media has a huge impact on our lives nowadays. Forbes et al. [12] mentioned that the key business components of social media are evaluating products or services, spreading awareness to society, linking consumers’ current purchases to future purchases, and updating social media interests. Due to the immense influence of social media, people are enticed to travel by seeing the destination places online. Nowadays, people live in the digital era, and social media platforms keep everyone busy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the researchers hypothesized the following:

Hypothesis 6 (H6).

Social media influence had a significant direct effect on travel intention.

3. Methodology

The methodology consists of 3 subsections: participants, questionnaire, and statistical analysis. It was visualized through the flowchart presented in Figure 2. Data collection occurred by creating and distributing the questionnaire to targeted participants. Once data met the data reliability factors, researchers stopped looking for participants. Afterward, the SEM analysis was performed. Finally, the results were interpreted by the researchers.

3.1. Participants

The researchers utilized a purposive sampling technique to ensure that all participants met the study’s criteria. Moreover, they applied multiple cross-sectional design to collect responses easily.

Table 1. Descriptive statistics of respondents.

Characteristics	Category	N	%
Gender	Male	91	33.83%
	Female	178	66.17%
Age	15–24	214	79.55%
	25–34	17	6.32%
	35–44	7	2.60%
	45–54	25	9.29%
	≥55	6	2.23%
Occupation	Student	196	72.86%
	Employee	47	17.47%
	Entrepreneurs	24	8.92%
	Retired	2	0.74%
Budget/traveling expenses	<2 million IDR	49	18.22%
	2–4 million IDR	121	44.98%
	4–6 million IDR	62	23.05%
	6–8 million IDR	11	4.09%
	>8 million IDR	26	9.67%
Region	East Java	131	48.69%
	Central Java	15	5.57%
	West Java	14	5.20%
	Jakarta	26	9.66%
	Bali & Nusa Tenggara	22	8.17%
	South Sulawesi	41	15.24%
	North Sumatera	4	1.48%
	West Sumatera	6	2.23%
	Maluku & Papua	5	1.85%
	East Kalimantan	5	1.85%
Social Media Platforms	Twitter	3.39
	Facebook	3.28
	TikTok	2.83
	YouTube	2.62
	Instagram	2.36
Travel Destination in Bali	Night life	4.44
	Mountain	3.93
	Culture	3.87
	Hidden gems	3.61
	Café Aesthetic	3.57
	Resort	3.45
	Culinary	3.08
	Beach	3.00

shows the demographic characteristics of 269 Indonesian participants. All participants voluntarily participated in an online questionnaire distributed during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (Delta Variant).

The study was dominated by female (66.17%) than male (33.83%) participants. Most of the participants were aged 15 to 24 (79.55%), while the participants who were at least 25 years old comprised 20.4% only. Young travelers are more enticed to visit a destination place since they are risk-takers than the older generation [23]. The participants’ ages coincided with the occupation level since more than half of the respondents were students (72.86%). There were a couple of employed participants (17.47%), a few were entrepreneurs (8.92%), and only limited participants were retired (0.74%). Meanwhile, almost half of the participants (44.98%) preferred 2 to 4 million Indonesian Rupiah (IDR) (138 USD to 276 USD). Other participants (23.05%) allocated 4 to 6 million IDR (276 USD to 414 USD). Some participants enjoyed traveling by spending <2 million IDR (<138 USD) for 18.22%. Lastly, only 13.76% of the participants wished for a higher expense greater than 6 million IDR (>414 USD). The domicile or residence of all participants was also asked in the questionnaire. Participants commonly lived in East Java (48.69%), South Sulawesi (15.24%), Jakarta (9.67%), and Bali & Nusa Tenggara (8.17%).

Furthermore, the participants were asked to rate most impactful social media platforms and Bali’s tourist destinations from 1 to 5, 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest. Afterward, their average scores were calculated. The most impactful social media platforms were as follows: Twitter (3.39), Facebook (3.28), TikTok (2.83), YouTube (2.62), and Instagram (2.36). Additionally, most participants preferred enjoying night life in Bali (4.44), followed by visiting mountain (3.93), culture (3.87), hidden gems (3.61), aesthetic cafes (3.57), resort (3.45), culinary (3.08), and beach (3.00).

3.2. Questionnaire

The online questionnaire was disseminated on social media platforms from September 2021 until November 2021. Specifically, Facebook was utilized because 70% of Indonesians were active users of the platform [24]. The questionnaire was distributed to several Facebook groups that met the study’s criteria. At the time of dissemination, the COVID-19 protocols in Indonesia were strict due to the presence of the Delta Variant. Thus, the researchers ensured the participants’ safety by distributing the cross-sectional questionnaire online. The 269 participants (at least 15 years of age) answered a total of forty (40) questions, as seen in

Table 2. Construct and measurement items.

Latent Variables	Item	Measures	References
Attitude	ATT1	I think going traveling in the current situation is a fun and energizing choice	[25]
	ATT2	I think that traveling is all I want in the current situation	[26]
	ATT3	I like to travel in the current situation	[27]
	ATT4	I think it is delightful to travel in the current situation	[27]
	ATT5	Given the current situation, I think that traveling is beneficial	[28]
Hedonic Motivations	HM1	I look for fun while traveling	[29]
	HM2	Traveling means a lot to me	[29]
	HM3	I travel to fulfill my lifestyle	[30]
	HM4	I go traveling to reward myself after a long day of working	[29]
Subjective Norms	SN1	People whose opinions I value support me to travel during the pandemic	[31]
	SN2	People whose important to me think it is okay to travel during the pandemic	[31]
	SN3	I consider my friends’/colleagues opinion when deciding to travel in the current condition	[25]
	SN4	Most people who are important to me agree that I should not be working too hard and go travel	[27]
	SN5	People whose opinion I value would prefer that I spend my money on a positive activity	[27]
Perceived Behavioral Control	PBC1	I have enough time to travel during the pandemic	[32]
	PBC2	I have enough budget to travel during the pandemic	[27]
	PBC3	If I wanted to, I would go traveling rather than staying at home during the pandemic	[32]
	PBC4	I feel there is nothing to prevent me from traveling in the current situation	[32]
COVID-19 Safety Protocols	CSP1	I tend to avoid the crowd on a trip during the COVID-19	[32]
	CSP2	I tend to have discipline on using masks during my vacations	[33]
	CSP3	I sanitize myself (by washing hands or using hand sanitizer) during the trip	[33]
	CSP4	It is important to get fully vaccinated before going on a trip	[32]
	CSP5	I feel safe traveling to a place that implements COVID-19 protocols	[32]
	CSP6	I am concerned about prevention and hygiene issues during the trip	[29]
Social Media Influence	SMI1	I would like to travel because I want to experience new things and share them on social media	[34]
	SMI2	I tend to go to places that are viral on social media	[34]
	SMI3	Social media plays a big part in my decision on traveling, such as where to stay or where to go	[34]
	SMI4	Seeing someone go on a trip and post it on social media influenced me to travel	[34]
Intention to Travel	INT1	I want to go traveling as soon as possible	[25]
	INT2	I intended to travel for leisure	[25]
	INT3	I am tempted to travel after seeing several travel promotion videos on social media	[34]
	INT4	I am thinking of spending time with a different vibe somewhere	[32]
	INT5	I would like to try and do something new for a short break	[29]

.

Following the theoretical framework, the questionnaire was formulated to analyze the factors that affect visiting behavior in Bali during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. The questionnaire consisted of two parts. First, the introduction section pertains to the demographic information (gender, age, occupation, budget/traveling expenses every person, domicile, social media platforms impactful toward the desire to have a vacation, and tourist destinations while on vacation in Bali). Second, the questionnaire consists of seven (7) latent variables with forty (40) measures or questions. The seven (7) latent variables are: (1) perceived behavioral control, (2) attitude, (3) subjective norms, (4) COVID-19 safety protocols, (5) hedonic motivations, (6) intention to travel, and (7) social media influence. The forty (40) measures were measured by using a 5-point Likert Scale. Specifically, participants were asked to choose from 1 to 5, 1 for “strongly disagree”, 2 for “disagree”, 3 for “neutral”, 4 for “agree”, and 5 for “strongly agree”.

3.3. Statistical Analysis

Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is a statistical analysis technique for identifying, estimating, and testing causal relationships between latent variables [35,36]. IBM SPSS AMOS version 22 with a maximum likelihood approach was utilized to generate the results. The reliability of latent variables was measured through Factor Loading (FL), Cronbach’s alpha (Cronbach’s α), Composite Reliability (CR), and Average Variance Extracted (AVE). The suggested value of indicators’ factor loadings is at least 0.50 [36]. The latent variables’ Cronbach’s α and CR should be at least 0.70. Lastly, the standard cut-off for AVE is 0.50. However, latent variables with less than 0.50 AVE are acceptable if the respective CR values are higher than 0.60 [37]. The latent variables that did not meet the cut-off were removed since they failed to impact Indonesians’ travel intentions significantly.

The significance of the model was evaluated through SEM goodness of fit measures. The primary SEM fit indices were Incremental Fit Index (IFI), Tucker Lewis Index (TLI), Comparative Fit Index (CFI), Goodness of Fit Index (GFI), and Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index (AGFI) [36,38,39,40]. The minimum cut-off for IFI, TLI, and CFI is 0.90 [36,38]. Meanwhile, GFI and AGFI must pass the required 0.80 value. The model’s Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) should be less than 0.07 to minimize the badness of fit. SEM fit indices that generated the required parameters signify a good fit between the model and the data [36,38,39,40].

4. Results

Figure 3 describes the initial Structural Equation Modelling in determining the factors that affected Indonesians’ intentions to visit Bali during the COVID-19 pandemic. Three out of six hypotheses (H1, H2, and H5) were found significant at a 0.001 significance level. Specifically, attitude (H1), hedonic motivation (H2), and COVID-19 safety protocols (H5) positively and significantly influenced Indonesians’ travel intentions. However, the remaining hypotheses (H3, H4, and H6) lacked significance in determining Indonesians’ travel intentions. Hence, subjective norms (H3), perceived behavioral control (H4), and social media influence (H6) did not directly affect travel intention.

Figure 4 represents the final model of the study. The model’s fit improved by eliminating the insignificant hypotheses. In addition, the new model resulted in higher R-squared values. Moreover, some modification indices were applied to minimize the gap between the conceptualized and estimated model [36]. Therefore, a revised SEM was constructed by identifying significant latent variables affecting Indonesians’ intention to travel to Bali.

In addition,

Table 3. Factor loadings, validity, and reliability.

Latent Variables	Items	Factor Loadings	Cronbach’s α	Composite Reliability (CR)	Average Variance Extracted (AVE)
Attitude	ATT1	0.74	0.895	0.888	0.616
	ATT2	0.65
	ATT3	0.86
	ATT4	0.90
	ATT5	0.75
Hedonic Motivation	HM1	0.58	0.731	0.763	0.449
	HM2	0.75
	HM3	0.58
	HM4	0.75
COVID-19 Safety Protocols	CSP1	0.44	0.806	0.819	0.436
	CSP2	0.62
	CSP3	0.67
	CSP4	0.77
	CSP5	0.63
	CSP6	0.77
Intention to Travel	INT1	0.71	0.769	0.798	0.457
	INT2	0.66
	INT3	0.36
	INT4	0.87
	INT5	0.70

shows the validity and reliability of each latent variable and indicator. As seen in the Table 3, the factor loadings of the final model were higher than 0.50 except for CSP1 and INT3. Since the values of Cronbach’s α, CR, and AVE were acceptable, the factor loadings were sufficient. Specifically, Cronbach’s α and CR values were at least 0.70, which supported the validity of indicators with the respective latent variables. Since the CR of latent variables passed the 0.60 required value, latent variables with AVE of at least 0.40 were accepted [37]. These values supported the data’s internal consistency, implicating that the indicators represent the same latent variable. Therefore, there was a close relationship between the indicators and latent variables. Meanwhile,

Table 4. Model fit.

Goodness of Fit Measures of SEM	Parameter Estimates	Minimum Cut-Off	Suggested by
Incremental fit index (IFI)	0.931	>0.90	[36]
Tucker–Lewis index (TLI)	0.944	>0.90	[38]
Comparative fit index (CFI)	0.938	>0.90	[36]
Goodness of fit index (GFI)	0.897	>0.80	[39]
Adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI)	0.883	>0.80	[39]
Root mean square error (RMSEA)	0.054	<0.07	[40]

reflects the final model’s goodness of fit measures. The values were compared with the minimum cut-off. The findings were supported since all measures met the suggested parameters.

5. Discussion

5.1. General Discussion

H1 was supported in this study (β = 0.17; p-value = 0.001). Hence, attitude played an important role in determining people’s travel intentions. All the key indicators of attitude were strong predictors of the latent variable. A past study concluded the same results as the current study [29]. Specifically, tourists had a positive attitude in traveling to popular tourist spots despite the COVID-19 risks [29]. Since Bali is a famous tourist spot worldwide, people are more enticed to visit the island. Another study found that attitude significantly and positively affected travel intention during the pandemic [25]. Both the past and current studies highlighted that tourists had a positive attitude and perceptions toward traveling during the pandemic. They found significant benefits of traveling during the COVID-19, thus participants preferred to travel. Although researchers did not assess the direct impact of attitude toward travel intention, they found the indirect effect of attitude on intention to travel [31]. Moreover, travelers recognized traveling as a fun, energizing, and delightful choice. Likewise, researchers agreed that traveling is a fun activity [7]. However, the past study assumed that traveling during the pandemic is more complicated than traveling after the pandemic [7]. The researchers found a positive travel attitude after the COVID-19 pandemic and assumed a negative travel attitude during the COVID-19 [7]. Result differences occurred because the past study focused on travel behavior after the pandemic. Meanwhile, the current study was centered on tourist’s travel behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings were supported by a past study, where people’s general attitudes and interests in life were related to their attitudes toward different kinds of vacation experiences and their expectations during traveling [11]. Travel preferences were developed by one’s perception based on their attitude. Thus, the people who initially have a positive attitude toward traveling will most likely have a high intention to travel despite the presence of the virus.

Next, H2 was found significant (β = 0.71; p-value = 0.001). Hedonic motivation had the highest direct effect on Indonesians’ travel intentions. Several key indicators were found to have significant effects on travel intention. Specifically, participants looked for fun, meaning, fulfilling lifestyle, and self-reward after working while on vacation. All these indicators reflect the social phenomena as more people try to find happiness amidst the COVID-19 situation. In a similar study, hedonic motivation was found positively significant because tourists seek new experiences and positive feelings [17]. This suggested that the positive experiences and emotions obtained during traveling are a strong motive to influence tourists’ intention to travel as an escape plan from stressful situations. In the current COVID-19 situation, people are confined in their houses and exposed to COVID-19 news daily. Hence, they are likely to feel stressed and mentally drained. A similar study also concluded that people missed seeing nature, which urged people to travel despite the pandemic [7]. Most of the respondents from the past study perceived traveling as a fun activity, which had similar results as the current findings. Furthermore, a notable indicator of hedonic motivation was to relieve participants’ stress due to demanding tasks at work. This result was also supported by a study disclosing that people were unable to travel due to work responsibilities [1]. Hence, it showed that people would opt to travel once they decide to take time off from work.

Then, H5 was deemed a significant hypothesis (β = 0.16; p-value = 0.001). COVID-19 safety protocols were found to impact tourist’s travel decision-making process. The key indicators of COVID-19 protocols were avoiding the crowd, having the discipline to wear a mask, using sanitizers frequently, participating in vaccination programs, and adhering to destination places’ COVID-19 safety protocols. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected social phenomena through the downfall of global economy and health system crisis. Correspondingly, COVID-19 protocols implemented by the government affect tourists’ perceptions [29]. Hence, the participants from past and current studies rely on health protocols, laws, and regulations. In addition, social distancing influences tourists’ perceptions of health hazards, insecurity, and unpleasant tourism experiences [35]. Similar to the current study, participants encouraged safe distancing when going around the island of Bali. Other studies disclosed that tourists were protective of their health [1,31]. This circumstance had a similar result to the current study because COVID-19 is a severe health issue that people do not want to suffer. If tourists were aware of COVID-19 protocols implemented by destinations, they would find it easier to travel [7]. In line with this study, tourists also liked to plan before visiting the island. They preferred knowing the barriers, risks, and negative outcomes. Thus, if the tourist destination implements strict COVID-19 safety protocols, people who have high health and safety standards will feel more secure traveling during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, there were three insignificant factors that did not affect Indonesians’ travel intention during COVID-19. The three factors were subjective norm, perceived behavior control, and social media influence. These factors were insignificant because their p-values were greater than the 0.05 significance level.

First, the subjective norm was found insignificant since the opinions of participants’ family members and friends did not affect participants’ intention to visit Bali during the pandemic. Hence, participants were not easily swayed by other people. In a similar study, Korean’s subjective norm did not significantly impact the intention to visit Hong Kong during critical social protests and phenomena. Another study noted that subjective norm was a poor performing indicator among all the TPB variables [18]. In this study, subjective norm also produced the least p-value and an indirect relationship toward intention to visit. However, there was a study where society encouraged people to visit popular tourist spots [29]. Since the past study evaluated national parks, the participants’ family, friends, and co-workers find it acceptable to visit national parks near their neighborhoods. This approach was also their way of mitigating boredom at home. National parks have low density, unlike the island of Bali, where many tourists of different nationalities come. Thus, people who were important to the participants were more reserved when visiting a high-density travel destination.

Second, perceived behavioral control lacked substantial evidence to support the easiness of traveling to Bali during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, the study did not successfully verify that it was easy to visit Bali due to the budget, time, and COVID-19 situation. Contrary to another study, perceived behavioral control was considered a strong latent variable for visiting a destination [29]. Conflicting results occurred because the past study emphasized visiting national parks while the current study evaluated the island of Bali. National parks are deemed safe due to the short travel distance compared to the island of Bali, where tourists must use different public transportation modes. Tourists who have prolonged exposure to other people are more receptive to COVID-19 transmission. Nowadays, tourists find it more challenging to use public transportation due to economic crisis and possible transmission. Another study also noted that perceived behavioral control was the strongest TPB variable affecting the intention to visit a destination place [16]. They evaluated home-based accommodation, which is more specialized and restricted. Users of home-based accommodation are limited since only family members manage the place. In Bali, accommodations are commercialized, resulting in several tourists.

Third, the social media influence was an insignificant variable toward travel intention. Therefore, word of mouth, social media posts, and digital marketing campaigns did not successfully influence participants’ intention to visit Bali during the pandemic. However, a past study concluded that consumers’ intentions were affected by opinions of online friends and social media society [15]. The contradicting result occurred due to the necessity of the service. Currently, social media users are exposed to traveling promotions, and these marketing campaigns might appear outdated to them. Moreover, social media posts had less impact on their emotions and perceptions because of the adverse COVID-19 effects. The social phenomena have constantly been changing as rampant uncertainty occurs. Another study concluded that tourists tend to be more impulsive and follow social media posts that gain attention [34]. They also noted that the least attractive social media posts did not benefit the participants. Thus, active social media users tend to be materialistic. On the contrary, the current study failed to prove that participants follow the norm of social media. These contradicting results occurred due to nationality differences. Furthermore, the past study evaluated the most used social media platform in China, while the current study did not focus on one social media platform in Indonesia. Another study highlighted the advantages of social media, but people had reservations about it due to COVID-19 risks and lack of trust in strangers [41]. The past study’s results coordinated with the current study’s findings. In this study, participants did not fully trust strangers’ social media posts due to credibility issues.

Furthermore, there were notable relationships between COVID-19 safety protocols and the government policy when the questionnaires were disseminated. After the Delta variant damaged Indonesia’s economy, the government became wary of opening tourist destinations. Vaccinations are intensified, especially for tourism industry players. Also, the Indonesian Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investment implemented a “safe” policy where every airplane passenger needs to submit PCR test a day before their flight. When the researchers collected the data, the PCR test cost 500,000 IDR (35 USD) and was eventually lowered to 300,000 IDR (21 USD). The expense was deemed a determining factor for local tourists because local flights cost similar. On the other hand, international tourists were required to complete five (5) days of quarantine after arriving in Indonesia. The tourists negatively perceived this protocol because another country, such as Thailand, opened a tourist destination without quarantine protocols. After the uproar, the government listened to the citizens and revised the quarantine period from five (5) days to three (3) days.

Despite the negative sentiments on Bali tourism, the tourism stakeholders continuously enhance the services and leisure activities. For instance, the tourism stakeholders invited 4400 residents to promote Bali on different platforms [42]. A series of advertising promotions were distributed to communicate with the tourists. Additionally, Mandalika International Circuit, which was situated near the island of Bali, was opened to tourists. The new circuit holds a World Superbike event that is considered good publicity for Indonesians.

5.2. Theoretical Contributions

This study contributes to the existing literature about people’s travel intentions. As of this writing, there were limited studies that applied extended TPB to identify Indonesians’ visiting intentions to Bali during the pandemic. Hence, the current study comprehensively discussed the novel significant factors. Specifically, attitude, hedonic motivation, and COVID-19 safety protocols were significant variables for tourism-related research. These factors were modeled and analyzed by SEM. Tourists’ attitudes significantly affected travel intention to Bali because they found greater benefits than disadvantages. Tourists put trust in themselves that they could take care of their health despite the presence of COVID-19. Furthermore, their hedonic motivation urged them to continue the plan of visiting Bali to experience positive emotions and new experiences as most people were restricted at home for a long time. Tourists felt safe as long as COVID-19 safety protocols were implemented by destination places. Academicians could benefit from the findings because the combination of significant variables (attitude, hedonic motivation, and COVID-19 safety protocols) was not yet explored. Additionally, future researchers could utilize the proposed TPB framework in other popular tourist spots. They may expand the proposed framework or utilize the same framework since not all variables were supported by the study. Hence, the study successfully expanded the original TPB by introducing the significant factors aside from the primary exogenous variables (attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control). Since subjective norm and perceived behavioral control were found insignificant, this study verified that the original TPB needed additional variables centered on tourism and travel intention. The original TPB had difficulties standing on its own due to insignificant variables [43,44], thus the need to expand the theory.

5.3. Practical Implications

Based on the findings, the researchers suggest that the tourism industry players must be prepared for new ways to differentiate themselves from other tourism industry players in other areas. The results show that fulfillment, self-actualization, love, belongingness, and psychology are important in attracting tourists to visit a destination. Hence, Bali is considered one of the most attractive places worldwide. Balinese people are known for their hospitality gestures. The residents and employees of businesses should maintain this trait to increase the number of tourists. Therefore, the researchers summarized the following key points to help stakeholders of Bali tourism businesses:

(1)

Bali’s tourism stakeholders must fulfill the tourist’s positive emotions and experiences by providing leisure activities that enhance the aforementioned feelings. Leisure activities include island hopping, snorkeling, diving, water sports, and trekking. Majestic manmade spots must be offered to tourists for photo opportunities because it would also enhance positive emotions; many tourists take pictures in beautiful sceneries. Since hedonic motivation significantly impacted tourist’s visiting intention, the researchers recommend stimulating positive emotions of tourists. Tourism stakeholders must provide additional services to tourists, like photography, private transportation, and meals and drinks.

(2)

Bali’s tourism stakeholders should create an ambiance to relieve travelers’ stress because tourists want to destress by traveling to Bali. It was encouraged to formulate events that promote the balance between solemnity and enjoyment. For instance, businesses must invite performers to dance and sing. Sports performances are also needed to cover different preferences of tourists. These events should be diverse every day to ensure that tourists experience novelty. The study emphasized that hedonic motivation consisted not only of positive emotions but also the enticement to new experiences.

(3)

The current findings reflected the significant importance of COVID-19 protocols when visiting Bali. All tourists, residents, and businesses’ employees must rigorously follow COVID-19 protocols to ensure that everyone is safe from the virus. COVID-19 protocols include safe distancing, participating in the vaccination program, and usage of face masks and sanitizers. Tourists did not want to feel too cautious while on vacation due to the COVID-19, hence all tourists must do their part. The researchers also suggested that stakeholders prepare printed posters and recorded videos entailing COVID-19 protocols to be shown to tourists of each destination place. Another recommendation was to play audio recordings intermittently stating the COVID-19 protocols to help remind tourists.

(4)

People recognize the criticality of getting infected by the COVID-19, but they do not want any burdensome rules. Hence, removing the PCR test and quarantine period was recommended for fully vaccinated individuals. Vaccinated people are less likely to get infected and decrease the probability of spreading the virus to others [45]. Meanwhile, non-vaccinated tourists must present a negative swab test result, and a quarantine period must be maintained. In this study, participants praised people who sanitized, used face masks, and were vaccinated. The ports and airlines connected to Bali should ensure that all passengers follow Bali’s COVID-19 protocols. Once tourists are in Bali, accommodation places should make COVID-19 protocols mandatory all the time. Tourism stakeholders must ensure that tourists wear face masks when walking around the island and destination places. Every closed-space establishment must have temperature checks and hand sanitation.

(5)

Tourist accommodations (hotels and villas) need to enhance their services (e.g., reduced noise, improved cleanliness, food and beverage) to contribute to tourist’s comfort. Based on the study’s findings, safety, health, and cleanliness must be the top priority of accommodation stakeholders. The accommodation room must be sanitized every time a new tourist uses it. For example, bed sheets, pillow sheets, comforters, and towels should always be changed. Appliances should be sanitized, too. Also, there should be a regular sanitation check throughout the accommodation because tourists tend to explore outside their rooms. Moreover, interaction with Balinese was a strong indicator for tourists since Balinese people are known for their friendly personality. Hence, customer service must be maintained and provided to local and international tourists. Establishment’s staff and tourist guides were encouraged to check their customers occasionally to ensure they were enjoying their stay in Bali. It was disclosed that travelers need good rest and social interactions [46]. Likewise, participants of the current study want to create good memories during their vacation.

(6)

The destination tour map must be improved by presenting destination mapping to each tourist. Tourism stakeholders should offer customized itineraries according to the preferences of tourists. This approach would help increase the tourist’s hedonic motivation, consisting of positive emotions and novelty value. For example, some tourists prefer historical explorations to sports activities. Thus, these tourists should be invited to explore Bali’s temples. Another instance is when one group of tourists may prefer island hopping but some types of tourists like trekking. Tourists should be given multiple options, given that most of them stay in Bali for at least a day. One study stated that tourists’ travel plans must reflect their personalities and characteristics [46].

6. Conclusions

The COVID-19 pandemic had a destructive effect on Bali’s tourism sector. The travel restrictions and COVID-19 safety protocols are critical factors that oppressed the travelers. The current study proposed an extended theory of planned behavior to determine factors affecting Indonesians’ travel intention to Bali during the COVID-19 pandemic. There were 269 respondents who voluntarily participated and answered 40 questions distributed amongst 7 latent variables. The result of structural equation modeling (SEM) indicated that attitude (ATT), hedonic motivation (HM), and COVID-19 safety protocol (CSP) were the significant factors that affected the travel intention of Indonesians during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interestingly, this study found that subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and social media influence did not significantly impact travel intention.

In relation to the related literature, attitude is one of the most substantial variables contributing to TPB [10]. The current study supported that tourists with a positive attitude and disposition about traveling despite the pandemic were most likely to visit Bali. Similar studies concluded that attitude produced a positive influence on tourist’s behavioral intention [15,16]. Furthermore, hedonic motivation suggested that tourists sought to visit Bali to enjoy, fulfill their curiosity, and reward themselves for their hard work. Likewise, hedonic motivation is significant because it contains emotional and novelty value [17]. Since the pandemic restricts people from going out, mental stress and routine activities are inevitable. Tourists wanted to try visiting a remarkable place but also emphasized COVID-19 safety protocols. They value health alongside travel visits to Bali. A past study also noted that COVID-19 protocols affected tourist’s decision-making [2].

This study proposed practical implications to help the economy of Bali. The results aimed to help Bali’s stakeholders know the perceptions of tourists that would entice them to travel to Bali. Moreover, the study was beneficial for the government to determine the suitable COVID-19 safety protocols for local and international tourists.

The researchers acknowledged the limitations of the study that future researchers could address. First, an online questionnaire limits the participants from the older generation to participate since they are not adept at using social media platforms. Specifically, 79.55% of the participants were aged 15 to 24. Since the travel intention of older generations might be different from the younger ones, the study might generate a different result. Hence, the researchers were encouraged to include face-to-face questionnaire dissemination once the COVID-19 eased. Specifically, future researchers could visit leisure destinations and ask for tourists’ voluntary participation. Leisure destinations may consist of parks, temples, beaches, and hotels. Apart from leisure destinations, researchers may also distribute the questionnaire to their respective communities, universities, and non-government organizations. Social media platforms could still be used, but it would be better to normalize the age segmentation of participants. Second, this study did not consider psychological variables affecting tourist’s travel intention. The variables used in the data collection process were limited to general aspects of travel intention. Future researchers need to expand the details of the psychological variables in travel and leisure. Third, the research was limited to the COVID-19 pandemic situation in Indonesia from the third to the fourth quarter of 2021. A more comprehensive result might follow through if different time points (2020 and 2022) were evaluated. Moreover, future researchers could explore the tourist’s traveling behavior during the pandemic in other countries’ remarkable tourist spots. Finally, the participants’ demographic characteristics could be used to extend the findings. For instance, the mediation effects of gender, age, occupation, domicile, and travel expenses could be added to the SEM framework.