Safety Concerns and Travel Behavior of Generation Z: Case Study from the Czech Republic

Generation Z has been online since the beginning, the online space is an integral part of their lives and personalities, and they make up about 30% of the world's population. It is claimed that this youngest cohort is already the most numerous generation on the Earth. The most important holiday parameters for them are price and location. They want to explore new places and be active while abroad. The study examines the impact of safety concerns on changes in travel behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. We focused on members of Generation Z who study the Tourism and the Recreation and Leisure Studies programs, so these students have a positive attitude towards traveling. Data were collected via internal university systems at two periods of time connected to different stages of the pandemic outbreak. The sample was chosen randomly. The sample of Period 1 (n = 150) was composed in 2020, after the lifting of restrictions at the end of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic. The sample of Period 2 (n = 126) was collected one year later, after the lifting of restrictions at the end of the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic. Correspondence analysis was used for better understanding and representation. This is a unique research study on Generation Z in the Czech Republic and Central Europe. As a result of the contemporary demographic changes in the world, this generation will shape future travel demand. Hence, understanding these youngest travelers will be key to predicting how tourism trends could evolve in the next few years and how these could influence worldwide tourism. The respondents thought they would not change their travel habits in the next five years because of the pandemic. When Periods 1 and 2 were compared after one year of the pandemic, the respondents preferred individual trips to group trips and individual accommodation to group accommodation facilities. On the other hand, our findings revealed a significant increase in safety concerns related to changes in travel behavior when the above-mentioned periods were compared. The research contributes to mapping young people's attitudes towards travel in the constrained and changing conditions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings help analyze the consumer behavior of the target group.