Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, tourism has been one of the worst affected sectors due to border closures and/or travel restrictions imposed by governments worldwide (UNWTO 2020). As the vaccination rollout increases globally, countries have gradually begun to lift travel restrictions, and tourism has slowly restarted in many parts of the world. But more recently, in fall 2021, several European countries are battling a fourth wave, while at the same time, a new variant called Omicron has led to sudden flight restrictions for travelers from Africa.

While past research demonstrates that travelling can induce multiple well-being benefits, the pandemic has forced travelers to change their travel behavior to comply with the restrictions. For example, tourists might be more reluctant to book travel services far in advance of their travel dates due to a high-risk perception (Bulchand-Gidumal and Melián-González 2021). In addition, COVID-19 has caused a sudden impact on people’s mental health and well-being. Some people developed fear, anxiety, depressions, and negative emotions. Measures such as social distancing, lockdowns, and wearing masks restricted people’s mobility and social interactions.

As research on the impact of COVID-19 on tourism is increasing, many questions remain unanswered how the pandemic has altered people’s holiday decision-making and perceived well-being in times of continuous uncertainties of travel restrictions. As such, it is critical to understand the short- and long-term factors affecting the willingness to travel and its impacts on well-being. Accordingly, this study contributes to understanding the emergent transformation of tourist behavior and the effect on individuals’ well-being.

In this study, we look at the underlying motivations and perceptions of tourists when visiting the Douro Valley in Portugal. The region is known for its landscapes full of character, wineries, and city heritage. The strategy in the region relies on over-arching sustainable business practices and offers. As the pandemic brought new challenges to businesses and tourists, there has been a need for a comprehensive response to deal with the feeling of health, safety, and well-being. With the end of the lockdown, the region gradually experienced the opening of hotels, restaurants, and wineries. Yet, the tourist profile changed, and it is important to understand the underlying transformation in tourism behavior. The research employs a qualitative design using various data sources such as in-depth interviews with tourists and social media. The underlying idea is to understand what changed in tourists’ motivations, preferences, behavior, and the impact on their well-being. The study will allow establishing implications for businesses operating under pandemic constraints or other extreme situations.

Introduction:
Household consumption contributes to more than 60% percent of global greenhouse gas emissions (Ivanova et al. 2016). Therefore, governments and NGOs in countries all over the world have to promote and assist consumers in choosing those climate-friendly actions with the biggest potential to reduce carbon emissions (United Nations 1998). Available tools suggest climate-friendly actions (e.g., UN carbon footprint calculator), but do not consider personal utilities (i.e., benefits and costs) of these actions (e.g., money, time), which might differ depending on consumer segments. If consumers due to complexity cannot properly assess utilities, they might behave less climate-friendly or engage in less effective climate-friendly actions. Therefore, it is relevant to understand different consumer segments across countries, their utilities of the most impactful climate-friendly actions, and their characteristics. This provides international policymakers and NGOs with a foundation for targeting the right people with the right instruments.

Extant consumer sustainability studies have addressed cross-country segments for general green behaviors (e.g., Golob and Kronegger 2019; Balderjahn et al. 2018). However, no research has focused on the most impactful climate-friendly actions and investigated cross-country market segments based on consumers’ utilities of these actions. Therefore, the goals of this research project are (1) to identify cross-country market segments based on consumers’ utilities of those climate-friendly actions with the biggest CO2 reduction potential, (2) to describe these segments in terms of (socio)demographic, attitudinal, and behavioral variables, (3) and to identify variables that predict segment membership. This is important because it helps international policymakers and NGOs to promote climate-friendly behavior segment-specific with maximum effectiveness on a larger scale across multiple countries.

Method/Approach:
We conduct online surveys in Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom. We use latent profile analysis to segment consumers based on their utilities of 17 key climate-friendly actions identified in the study by Antony et al. (2020) while considering the predictive impact of covariates on segment membership. Overall utilities for each action are determined based on multi-attribute utility theory (Dyer 2016). For aggregating consumers’ importance weights of the attributes relevant when deciding on climate-friendly actions (i.e., convenience, money, health, self-fulfillment, social belonging, social-ecological impact) and their single-attribute evaluations of the climate-friendly actions, we use the weighted linear additive preference function. We obtained the attributes in half-standardized interviews using free elicitation technique. By using a hold-out sample we will assess the prediction accuracy of segment membership.

Results:
Preliminary results of our first study in the UK suggest three to five consumer segments with different overall levels of utility, different utility profiles related to the climate-friendly actions, and significant differences in attitudinal (e.g., attitude towards climate protection) and behavioral covariates (e.g., use of means of transportation). We expect these or similar results for the whole research project.

Discussion/Implications:
The findings enable international policymakers and NGOs to target each consumer segment with the most impactful climate-friendly actions providing maximum utility considering personal utilities. This increases the probability that consumers adopt these actions.

Diabetes and other lifestyle related chronic diseases are on the rise. A large body of medical studies confirms that sustainable lifestyle changes can prevent their onset. In previous research, several specific interventions have been identified as effective. However, interventions are largely standardised and the network of service providers in the health ecosystem is rarely intertwined so that interventions are not coordinated with each other. Therefore, lifestyle change programs often lack patient focus, efficiency, and sustainability. Research on the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle is still scarce.
For the study, three research fields are relevant: (1) Interventions and lifestyle changes in the health sector, (2) Positive psychology and motivation, (3) Transformative Service Research focusing on the customer journey and an ecosystem perspective. The study addresses the following questions:
(1) Which interventions based on the patients’ motivation are effective in supporting the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle?
(2) Which are relevant touchpoints for patients during the maintenance phase and how should they be designed to support an effective customer journey?
(3) What is the patients’ role and how can other players in the ecosystem support a lifestyle change that is lasting?
The study features a mix-methods approach, combining evidence from quantitative and qualitative studies: First, expert interviews with healthcare professionals were conducted, followed by a patient-centred approach using in-context research. Based on a design thinking workshop with stakeholders in the health ecosystem, interventions were developed and prototyped as features of a mobile application. These were tested in a quantitative scenario experiment with intention measurements among 400 potential users. Finally, 20 in-depth interviews were conducted with patients who had successfully changed their lifestyles. These provided insights on their customer journey, relevant players in the health ecosystem, their roles and influence.
Five effective behaviour change techniques (BCTs) and corresponding examples for interventions have been identified. Most importantly, acceptance of interventions in the maintenance phase depends on their motivation focus: interventions with a focus on autonomy are linked to higher levels of usage intentions than interventions with a focus on extrinsic motivation. The patient journey for the maintenance phase is an iterative process: Patients with sustainable success actively keep setting themselves new goals. Technical aids represent important touchpoints, and their importance is likely to increase. Often, they take over monitoring or feedback functions and act as an "extended self". The patients’ self-management is of major importance in the maintenance phase. In contrast to the initial phase of lifestyle change, in which the impetus often comes from outside, patients take a much more active role in the maintenance phase. However, this does not mean that ecosystem partners lose relevance. On the contrary, broad support from their environment can lead to patients achieving a higher degree of autonomy and thus successfully maintaining their healthy lifestyle.
Results of this study extend existing knowledge, providing empirical qualitative support for the effectiveness of personalised interventions. Further, a basis for the creation of a more efficient and sustainable ecosystem is given that supports patients in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.