Title: The potential of chatbots in travel and tourism services in the context of social distancing

Authors: Rajibul Hasan; Bernadett Koles; Mustafeed Zaman; Justin Paul

Addresses: School of Business, Maynooth University, Maynooth,Co. Kildare, Ireland ' IÉSEG School of Management – Paris Campus, Socle de la Grande Arche, 1 Parvis de La Défense, F-92044 Paris, France ' Métis Lab, EM Normandie Business School, 20, Quai Frissard, 76600 Le Havre, France ' University of Puerto Rico, 1102 Magdalena Ave, Apt 1 E, San Juan, PR, 00917, USA

Abstract: As many other sectors, the travel and tourism industries faced great challenges following the 2019/2020 health pandemic, with confinements and border closures bringing travel to a halt. Although research exploring the impact of the health crisis is increasing, prior work investigating the potential of emerging technologies to mitigate the negative consequences remains scarce. The purpose of the current paper is to examine tourists' chatbot usage intentions in service encounters within the context of a future international travel, assuming continued social distancing. Our results indicate that automation, habit, social presence and health consciousness all contributed positively to chatbot usage intentions. Further variations were observed as a function of experiencing government-imposed lockdown. The role of social presence and human qualities in chatbots was weakened when controlling for lockdown and during the trip experience. Finally, the impact of health consciousness on use intentions was most pronounced during the travel stage.

Keywords: chatbots; automation; COVID 19; social distancing; tourism; travel.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTIP.2021.117998

International Journal of Technology Intelligence and Planning, 2021 Vol.13 No.1, pp.63 - 83

Received: 14 Sep 2020
Accepted: 03 Apr 2021
Published online: 06 Oct 2021 *

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