Back to the future: Advancing more sustainable tourism through domestic summer holidaying after the COVID-19 pandemic

Health hazards, border restrictions, insurance limitations, travel uncertainties, and other disruptions following the COVID-19 pandemic reduced international travel in the summer of 2021. The sudden travel changes created a unique opportunity to investigate potentials for reshaping future holidaying. The article's objective is to investigate how experiences of domestic summer holidaying might have influenced attitudes towards future holiday travel. It is based on exploratory survey conducted among Oslo region inhabitants. A structural equation modelling analytical framework revealed two main holidaying orientations, environmentally friendly and international vacationist, characterised by five attitude dimensions, and associated with weaker and stronger inclinations towards future long-distance international travel, respectively. The sharply contrasting attitudes underpinning these orientations were based on experiences of 'forced' domestic holidaying shaping future travel intentions with implications for more sustainable tourism. The pandemic prompted some people to go 'back to the future' and intend to resume 'old' (traditional) summer holidaying practices: mainly short-distance domestic trips with reduced carbon footprint and greater emphasis on social bonds. In conclusion, the study contributes to theory development through exploring environmental consciousness and habit discontinuities, as well as time and distance perceptions related to holiday travel. Lastly, the implications of the findings are presented.