Exploring Positive and Negative Emotions Through Motivational Factors: Before, During, and After the Pandemic Crisis with a Sustainability Perspective

The tourism sector thrives on a comprehensive understanding of the factors that motivate individuals to explore new destinations. Identifying the push and pull factors that drive travel decisions is essential for analyzing tourist behavior and recognizing the external constraints that tourism enterprises and destinations must consider. Adopting a sustainable approach to these motivational forces underscores the need to balance tourism growth with the preservation of destinations, the well-being of local communities, and responsible travel practices. Push and pull factors in tourism are inherently linked to the emotional states that travelers experience throughout the decision-making process, from the initial intention to travel to the post-trip evaluation. The sector prospers by understanding the reasons that inspire individuals to discover new places. Determining these motivational factors is crucial for comprehending tourist behavior and addressing the external limitations that tourism businesses and destinations must navigate. A sustainability-focused approach highlights the significance of aligning tourism growth with destination preservation and community well-being, ensuring a responsible and enduring tourism model. This study aims to examine the impact of positive and negative emotions on push and pull motivational factors across different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, adopting a sustainability perspective. The research was structured into four empirical studies: (i) pre-pandemic phase, involving a sample of 508 tourists; (ii) pandemic phase, with data collected from 507 participants; (iii) post-pandemic phase, comprising 488 respondents; (iv) comparative analysis, assessing variations across the three periods. The results indicate that emotional states exert a significant influence on push and pull motivational factors, with variations observed depending on the period of data collection: before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. However, while emotions exhibited fluctuations across the three phases, push and pull factors demonstrated relative stability over time. These findings emphasize the critical role of emotional experiences in shaping travel motivations, highlighting the interplay between psychological drivers and destination attributes. This understanding is essential for tourism businesses and policymakers to develop strategies that align with evolving traveler expectations while promoting sustainable and responsible tourism practices.