Role of push and pull motivations in influencing leisure travel and determining the vacationing choice of Indians during COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted the Indian tourism industry, which is a vital sector contributing to the country's economy. This study tries to analyse Indian tourists' motivation towards vacationing and leisure travel in the midst of a global pandemic. The paper commences by providing a comprehensive review of the current literature pertaining to leisure tourism and looks at push and pull motivation concepts to segregate factors that consumers consider while making a travel decision. The study keeps the pandemic as its over-arching background while also trying to answer questions on tourism-led economic recovery, bearing in mind the uncertainty posed by the evolving nature of the pandemic. After discussing the research methodology, the analysis of responses to an online questionnaire is presented and discussed. The evidence leads us to propose a series of managerial implications and conclusions for relevant stakeholders.