Accommodation Through Online Platforms During COVID-19: A Study of Behavioral Rejection Attitudes

Abstract

Online platforms act as tourist accommodation intermediaries and have generated negative societal attitudes. This study, involving fieldwork in Spain in May 2020 (600 surveys), analyzes a new element of social rejection of tourist housing activity. In the context of the COVID-19 health crisis, the fear of contagious diseases transmitted by tourists is analyzed. The aim is to determine, based on the perception of various stakeholders involved in tourist activity, whether there is a rejection of tourists due to the fear of contagious diseases. Furthermore, the magnitude of this reason for rejection is analyzed compared to other rejection factors associated with tourist accommodation activity. In this way, the magnitude of the fear of disease transmission when the pandemic was still active will be determined. The data have been analyzed using a stakeholder approach and applied using a methodology based on the Borda count, which creates a ranking that reflects stakeholder perceptions of the most intense impacts. It has been found that the stakeholders with the greatest economic dependence on tourist accommodation–shopkeepers and homeowners–anticipate the greatest rejection. These groups are also those who report a greater fear of contagion. This information may be useful in future situations of health uncertainty for regulatory or commercial purposes.