The dynamics of travel avoidance: The case of Ebola in the U.S. Ignatius Cahyanto, Ph.D., Assistant Professor & Program Coordinator a, ⁎, Michael Wiblishauser, Ph.D., CHES, Assistant Professor of Health Education b , Lori Pennington-Gray, Ph.D., Professor & Director of Tourism Crisis Management Initiative c , Ashley Schroeder, Ph.D., Assistant Professor d a Tourism & Hospitality Management, School of Business, Black Hills State University, Meier Hall 335, 1200 University Street Unit 9007, Spearfish, SD 57799-9007, United States b Lock Haven University, Department of Health Sciences, 142 Health Professions Center, Lock Haven, PA 17745, United States c University of Florida, 325 FLG, PO Box 118209, Gainesville, FL 32611, United States d University of Hawaii at Mānoa, School of Travel Industry Management, 2560 Campus, Honolulu, HI 96822, United States abstract article info Article history: Received 13 March 2016 Received in revised form 12 September 2016 Accepted 13 September 2016 The study examined factors that influenced Americans' avoidance of domestic travel due to confirmed cases of Ebola in the United States in late 2014. The Health Belief Model served as a theoretical framework for the study. Data were generated from 1613 Americans from an online survey. Perceived susceptibility and self-effica- cy were found to significantly influence domestic travel avoidance. The findings also supported the significant role of perceived risk, subjective knowledge, age, and gender. Given the possibility that an Ebola outbreak may reemerge in the future and the emergence of additional health-related crises (e.g., Zika virus), the findings may also aid the tourism industry in planning for and responding to other health pandemics. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Ebola Health Belief Model Travel avoidance United States 1. Introduction One of most visible media stories in 2014 was the Ebola outbreak. Prior to the 2014 West Africa outbreak, the world had experienced a se- ries of global disease outbreaks such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syn- drome (SARS) in 2002–2004 and H1N1 influenza virus in 2009. In 2009, both the global financial crisis and the H1N1 pandemic impacted global travel, with a 4% decrease to 880 million international arrivals (Leggat, Brown, Aitken, & Speare, 2010). Several studies have consis- tently found that pandemics contribute to heightened concerns about international travel (Lee, Son, Bendle, Kim, & Han, 2012; Kuo, Chen, Tseng, Ju, & Huang, 2008). Responses to an outbreak have often affected levels of concern and travel intentions. For instance, during the rising prevalence of H1N1 in 2009, the Australian Government introduced a series of procedures that were geared toward incoming and outgoing travelers (Leggat et al., 2010). In addition, Leggat, Brown, and Speare (Leggat et al., 2010) found that while more than half of Queensland travelers showed some concern over the pandemic, a majority would not postpone travel even if they demonstrated H1N1-like symptoms. Another study by Lee et al. (2012) found that perceptions associated with H1N1 were not sig- nificant predictors of travel intentions. However, Reisinger and Mavondo (2005) found that perceptions of a disease are important indicators of al- tered travel patterns. One possible explanation is that travelers might de- velop adaptive behaviors (personal health interventions) which may prevent them from contracting the disease. Public perceptions associated with the Ebola outbreak were mostly negative in the U.S. A Washington Post-ABC News survey found that al- most two-thirds of Americans were concerned about a widespread Ebola epidemic in the U.S. (Dennis & Craighill, 2014). However, the same survey also found that more than half of the sample was very con- fident in the federal government's ability to effectively respond to the outbreak in the U.S. Similarly, another survey conducted by Global Busi- ness Travel Association found that most respondents surveyed believed that the outbreak had a marginal effect on business travel (Martin, 2014). Nonetheless, the aforementioned surveys did not explain under- lying determinants of such behaviors, nor did they explain whether or not domestic travelers were concerned with the disease outbreak, both of which are critical for travel awareness campaigns. While much has been written on the relationship between pandem- ic disease and international travel, little is known about potential trav- elers' behaviors regarding domestic travel during a pandemic outbreak. Understanding travelers' behaviors warrants further explora- tion because of the unique nature of the Ebola outbreak in the U.S and several confirmed Ebola cases within the U.S. In addition, constant Tourism Management Perspectives 20 (2016) 195–203 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: ignatius.cahyanto@bhsu.edu (I. Cahyanto), mjw939@lhup.edu (M. Wiblishauser), pengray@hhp.ufl.edu (L. Pennington-Gray), aschroe@hawaii.edu (A. Schroeder). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2016.09.004 2211-9736/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Tourism Management Perspectives journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tmp