Crowding and vaccination: Tourist's two-sided perception on crowding and the moderating effect of vaccination status during COVID-19 pandemic

Crowding used to be a double-edged sword in the tourism industry. However, the COVID-19 pandemic seems to make the disadvantage of crowding more obvious. Here, we investigated the relationship between vaccination status (including vaccination completeness and willingness), crowding perception, popular perception, destination attractiveness, and loyalty based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response model. Empirical research data were collected through a survey of 535 tourists to Nanjing's Confucian Temple, China, which is known for its tremendous travel volume. The results show that both crowding perception and popular perception significantly affect loyalty, but with opposite signs. Moreover, if tourists have been vaccinated, the positive effect of destination attractiveness on loyalty will intensify, meaning that the rarely investigated variable vaccination status indeed plays a moderating role.