key: cord-0078030-tkeusl6v authors: Veréb, Vanda; Nobre, Helena; Farhangmehr, Minoo title: Cosmopolitan tourists: the most resilient travellers in the face of COVID-19 date: 2022-05-11 journal: Serv Bus DOI: 10.1007/s11628-022-00482-z sha: 7d673e33aab6d7de31f56f1abaeac6d0cc7ee532 doc_id: 78030 cord_uid: tkeusl6v Fear, whilst essential for survival, has the power to impair rational thinking. In tourism, fear can cease international travels. Previous studies demonstrated that cosmopolitan travellers are more resistant to irrational fear. This study aims to verify if cosmopolitans are more resistant to irrationality when facing the fear of COVID-19. Building on grounded theory, 64 in-depth interviews and direct observation, this study found that the cosmopolitan mindset, open-mindedness and strive for objectivity facilitates personal resilience, rational functioning in the face of fear. The study categorises travellers based on their resilience and suggests how to encourage each category amidst the threat of COVID-19. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11628-022-00482-z. Fear of infectious diseases was shown to have the power to impair rational thinking (Taha et al. 2014 ) and moral decision-making (Pappas et al. 2009 ), to amplify risk estimates out of proportion and exaggerate irrational self-protective behaviour (Bavel et al 2020; Murray and Schaller 2016) . The reason behind is that the fear of infectious diseases is motivated by an evolutionary-engraved survival instinct. When facing unknown situations, like a novel and potentially deadly virus, fear, as a reflex response to unknown environmental stimuli, is activated and evokes the most effective (not efficient or rational) escape behaviours (Ledoux 2015) . Moreover, the fear of infectious diseases was demonstrated to promote outgroup xenophobia (Thornhill and Fincher 2014) and stigmatisation (Oaten et al. 2011 ) in most of the cases instinctively (Hardin and Banaji 2013) . Whilst fear can be irrational and exaggerated, psychology literature suggest that it is possible to build up personal resilience to the overwhelming emotions and irrational behaviours that fear produces (Ledoux 2015) . Personal resilience is a quality to maintain ones' integrity and objective behaviour in the face of adversity and stress (Henderson et al. 1999) . Resilience domain encourages research aiming to increase personal resilience against the overwhelming anxiety the fear of the COVID-19 pandemic created (Vinkers et al. 2020) . But, building up resilience requires a carefully targeted treatment, as resilience depends on both the nature of the person as well as his/her specific circumstance (Southwick et al. 2014) . One emerging line of research argues that tourism is in an exceptional position to effortlessly administer a 'personalised mass treatment' to increase societal resilience against instinctive fear and the irrational behaviour it produces (Vereb et al. 2018 (Vereb et al. , 2020 . Global travels by facilitating discoveries of others who are culturally and geographically different and by enabling learning through exposure to the unknown increase risk tolerance, encourage open-mindedness and stir up social sensitivity. Building character and sturdiness through international travelling is an established idea in cosmopolitan literature. International experiences were demonstrated to provide an opportunity to critically examine and correct one's own biases (Kleingeld 2006 ) by promoting critical thinking and superior problem solving (Nummela et al. 2004) . Global travels were shown to offer a chance to create an international social network that can act as a social support net and a professional ladder towards acquiring social and economic resources (Levy et al. 2019) . Critical thinking, objectivity, social sensitivity, supportive social network and additional economic resources gained through international experiences-the signature characteristics of cosmopolitans (Kleingeld 2006 )-are essential pillars of personal resilience (Bonanno et al. 2011; Masten 2014) . Building on this notion, Vereb et al. (2020) already demonstrated that people with strong cosmopolitan conviction, whilst being keenly aware of the actual risks, are resilient to act on the irrationally exaggerated fear of terrorism. The current research aspires to verify if cosmopolitanism is also a suitable solution to support personal resilience in order to keep the irrational fear of infectious diseases at bay. Whilst, the two types of fear stimuli are very different (terrorism and infectious disease), previous research suggests that most fears share the same roots, manifests themselves in the same fear responses and could be rectified with similar strategies (e.g. Ledoux 2015) . Thus, building up cosmopolitanism might not only create resilience against the irrational fear of terrorism but could counterbalance the acrimonious atmosphere created by the fear of infectious diseases as well. By applying grounded theory approach and using in-depth interviews and direct observation, this research aims to understand the role of the cosmopolitan mindset and (consequent) personal resilience on diminishing irrationality induced by the fear of COVID-19 pandemic and verify the role of tourism in it. In the endeavour, the study categorises travellers based on their resilience to the fear of COVID-19. It pinpoints practical strategies on how to encourage each category to travel (again), thus building further their resilience, with the impeding threat of the virus. The current health crisis related to the appearance of the novel virus-the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that causes the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-led to a pandemic with devastating social and economic consequences. Based on mathematical modelling of past health crisis data, Volpert et al. (2020) concluded that societies are still vulnerable and unprepared to these types of events and urged a wide scientific and public discussion. Academic literature in economics and social sciences is building up on the coronavirus pandemic closing up on medical research. However, it is still mainly dealing with the direct and short-term effects of the pandemic. For example, by listing immediate societal challenges (Bavel et al. 2020) , discussing the negative impact of the media in amplifying health concerns (Garfin et al. 2020 ) and the potentially positive role of it by leading public compliance with health measures (Harper et al. 2020) , as well as warning about the negative public health implications of the lockdown measures (Reger et al. 2020) . Most studies on the effect of the pandemic use historical data to draw conclusions for the current situation (e.g. Garfin et al. 2020; Volpert et al. 2020) or rely on quantitative data for a quick estimate and situational overview (e.g. Joo and Shin 2020; Yang et al. 2020) . Ideally, behavioural data should be observed directly within a target population during an infectious disease outbreak in order to ensure that the modelled behaviour is appropriate and relevant for the target population (Weston et al. 2018) . This study by applying grounded theory approach and relying on in-depth interviews and observed lifestyle during the first 3 months of the pandemic provides an in-depth understanding on the social impact of the pandemic. Tourism studies analysing the implication of COVID-19 are still scarce. For example, they compare the effects of the current pandemic with previous epidemics on tourism (Gössling et al. 2020) , estimate the impact of the pandemic on global tourism numbers (Yang et al. 2020 ) and report on the changes in China's country image due to the spread of COVID-19 virus . Few studies in the tourism literature venture beyond the effects of the pandemic and offer solutions on how to approach travellers when facing pandemic threat and in the aftermath of the pandemic when we potentially need to learn to live with a new "guest" (e.g. Jiang and Wen 2020; Lee and Lee 2020). This research aims to provide practical guidelines for destination managers on how to segment traveller amidst of COVID-19 risk and which strategies can be used to engage and encourage each segment to travel again. The general sign of personal resilience is to spring back from and successfully adopt to adversity. Different domains study resilience from different viewpoints. Psychology approaches it as a personal attribute and describes it as a stable trajectory of healthy functioning after an adverse event, a relatively brief period of disequilibrium, but otherwise continued health (Bonanno et al. 2011) . Anthropology, pointing beyond resilience as a personal capacity, sees resilience as a process to harness resources to sustain well-being (Panter-Brick and Leckman 2013). Neuroscience also view resilience as a process but it focuses on the active decision that motivates moving forward, learning from adversity and not succumbing to its negative effects, a conscious choice that must be constantly reconfirmed (Yehuda and Flory 2007) . Developmental studies have a system-oriented view of resilience defining it as an outcome of dynamic interactions of a complex system, like an individual or a community, as adapting successfully to disturbances that threaten its viability and development (Masten 2014) . Overall, determinants of resilience include a host of biological, psychological, social and cultural factors that interact with one another to determine how one responds to stressful experiences (Southwick et al. 2014) . Also, resilience changes over time as a function of development and one's interaction with the environment (Masten 2014) . Resilience is suggested to be the best approach to confront the devastating impacts of disasters, like terrorism or pandemic (Aldunce et al. 2014) , as it has a significant explanatory power and thus, it is able to outline insightful strategies specifically, for tourism managers to cope with global disasters (Luthe and Wyss 2014) . Whilst tourism resilience is promising area for research and have substantial research concerning community resilience and destination resilience, individual travellers' resilience has not yet been explored (Prayag 2018) . This research aims to advance tourism resilience literature, specifically travellers' resilience, by categorising travellers based on their resilience to the irrational fear reactions to the current pandemic. Deriving from the Greek word of kosmopolites, the term cosmopolitan means citizen of the world and refers to a deliberate cultural openness (Skrbis et al. 2004) , and the willingness to curiously explore other cultures and humbly learn from them (Levy et al. 2007) . Despite the fact that idea of kosmopolites has existed for more than two millennia and cosmopolitanism has a substantial body of academic literature, its conceptualisation and measurement are still strongly debated. Traditionally cosmopolitan is viewed as a conscious strive for a higher global standard than limited local values can offer (Kanter 1995; Rhinesmith 1992) . Refuting the concept of social ideal, some argue that cosmopolitanism is routine practice used by ordinary people to bridge boundaries with people who are different from them (Lamont and Aksartova 2002) . Opposing the view that cosmopolitanism is a practise of the common, researchers from international management argue that cosmopolitanism entails high cognitive capabilities (Rhinesmith 1992 ) and a refined skillset (Levy et al. 2019) . Another line of research suggests that instead of a learnt ability, cosmopolitanism should be understood as natural dispositions that are based on personal values (Caldwell et al. 2006 ) and interconnected personality traits (Parks-Leduc et al. 2015) , like openness, risk tolerance, stimulation-seeking or benevolence. Others see cosmopolitanism as a result of circumstantial conditions (Beck and Grande 2012) . One of the purposes of this research is to contribute to this debate and obtain a better understanding of cosmopolitanism by testing cosmopolitan ideals and way of life in a novel setting, in their fight to overcome the instinctively exaggerated fear of COVID-19. Grounded theory is an inductive research method for building theory. It is used to investigate the actualities of the real world through the eyes of those who partake in it (Glaser and Strauss 1967) . It focuses on how people behave within a specific social context by developing context-based, reaction-interaction-oriented description and explanation of the studied social phenomenon (Goulding 2005) . Grounded theory also offers space for multidisciplinary approach (Holton 2009) that novel theory building can greatly benefit from, especially, in the domain of tourism research (Okumus et al. 2018) . It enabled this research to draw on psychology, sociology, international management, marketing and tourism domains. In-depth interview is the most established method for data collection in grounded theory (Goulding 2005) . Moreover, it is the best way to obtain detailed information about feelings and perceptions, to discover deep-seated drives, like fear, and to discuss freely sensitive topics, like social discrimination (Berg and Lune 2012) . In-depth interview also enabled the study's researchers to address potential respondent bias commonly displayed when discussing deeply personal and socially sensitive issues. In fact, in-depth interviews provided a perfect framework to study personal resilience, because "the most important and effective way to approach resilience is to start with listening to what people have to say about their everyday lives, and find what matters the most for them and how they achieve it against all of odds" (Southwick et al. 2014, p. 10) . As this research aims to expand the results of the study of Vereb et al. (2020) , it applied the same research approach. All respondents were asked to fill Schwartz' Short Value Survey (Lindeman and Verkasalo 2005; Schwartz 1992 ) and the questionnaire of C-Cosmo Scale (Riefler et al. 2012 ). The Value Survey provides a view of the predominant value orientation that could motivate cosmopolitan behaviour. Scoring high on 'openness to change' value dimension was linked to cosmopolitanism (Cleveland et al. 2011 ). The C-Cosmo Scale establishes the strength of the self-admitted cosmopolitan interest. Scoring high on the C-Cosmo Scale indicates strong cosmopolitan conviction. Self-admitted attitude, behavioural intensions and personal values, tend to be subject to implicit biases, were validated by contrasting them to personal history during the in-depth interviews. They were also confirmed using probing questions and scenario analysis. The use of these techniques allowed the researchers to set up distinct cosmopolitan categories and differentiate between those who are not cosmopolitan, those who simply sympathise with cosmopolitan ideals and those who actually live by them. Sixty-four in-depth interviews were conducted of a highly diverse sample, including 22 nationalities living in and being familiar with 29 national realities across the five continents. The research gained insights from Australia, Brazil, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong (China), Hungary, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, the Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, South-Africa, Syria, UAE, the UK, Vietnam and the USA, including California, Kentucky, New York, Ohio and Texas). The respondents represented the main religious groups, a wide array of social and economic backgrounds, age groups between 19 and 74, different levels of education and varying professions. The research extended to both multicultural respondents and local people with little or no international experience to contrast the difference in their attitude and behaviour in the face of the global pandemic. To obtain a wide overview of the impact of the pandemic, respondents were recruited through snowballing method aiming for maximum variation sampling or a so-called, "common sense sampling" of grounded theory (Goulding 2005 p. 296 ), which also supports the freedom of theoretical sampling allowing to readjust, if needed, sampling methods during grounded theory research. A global focus in sampling allowed addressing one of the main challenges of grounded theory studies that they are limited to a specific context (Goulding 2005) . A broad and diversified approach in sampling is suggested to increase the ability of generalisation of the constructed theory to various other settings and populations (Morse 1994) . The interviews were conducted between March 2020, after the declaration of coronavirus as global pandemic, and June 2020, after most of the American and European Union Member States pulled back from the state of national emergency and due to easing the lockdown measures experienced a new surge in COVID-19 cases. The data collection continued until full theoretical saturation was reached, where no additional themes of information were revealed with additional interviews (Glaser and Strauss 1967) . It was particularly important to continue collecting data till full saturation as the situation created by the emergence of COVID-19 is highly uncertain and unstable. Throughout the different stages of disasters, emotions and risk perception fluctuate, even risk mitigation strategies change as the crisis event progresses (Myers et al. 1990 ). For example, at pre-disaster stage people might misjudge how they would react when the disaster hits, as the stress at the impact stage could impair rational decision-making. Or, the initial panic at the impact stage of the disaster could transform with time into to a calmer but still demanding readjustment stage. To ensure the collected data fully covered the emotional fluctuations of the different stages of the heath crisis, the initial interviews were regularly followed up as main changes occurred. Furthermore, the respondents were asked to join an online discussion group on COVID-19 to share their personal experiences with the pandemic and encourage each other. The respondents were grouped by country and by age, and most group members knew each other. These groups were originally created as means of social support; however, the discussions produced valuable insights for the research project as well. These discussions allowed the researchers to directly observe the respondents' behaviour in a relatively normal social situation without the pressure of the interview. The researchers could contrast the observed behaviour in the online discussions with the behavioural intentions shared during the interviews. The researchers could also monitor the emotional fluctuation and progress of the respondents as they passed through the different stages of the current health crisis. Thus, with the permission of the participants, these discussions also enriched the findings of the study and contributed to correct social bias when talking about fear. The current pandemic of COVID-19 is officially declared as a global health crisis (WHO 2020), where everybody is impacted at various extent through global travel restrictions and obligatory lockdown measures, even if not everybody is directly exposed to the virus. Thus, this study kept a highly sensitive stance during the research following the ethical guideline of disaster research (Kilpatrick 2004). The participants were pre-screened based on their vulnerability (Levine 2004) to ensure no additional stress and/or trauma is placed on the participants because of their participation in the research. Furthermore, the research was particularly attentive "not just the risk of being harmed physically, socially or psychologically but also the risk of being wronged of, being treated in ways that assault one's dignity or one's personhood" (p. 398). Each respondent was told that they can stop the line of questions or the entire interview at any point if it felt intrusive or uncomfortable. They were given the option to withdraw their participation and delete their contribution from the research until the date the findings are accepted for publication. None of the participants withdrew from the research. Moreover, the interviewers were able to create such a safe environment that the participants shared richer and more sensitive information than originally asked for or expected and thus, they contributed to a deeper understanding of the societal impact of COVID-19. NVivo Pro 12.0 software permitted to codify the collected data. The transcribed interviews and comments were analysed first through open coding, reading through the scripts and establishing major themes. Then, axial coding was applied to create categories and subcategories from the different themes. Finally, selective coding was used to pinpoint the relationships between the categories (Strauss and Corbin 1990) . During the coding process, the scripts and the created categories were constantly compared to each other to ensure that the same code book was used throughout the entire analysis (Goulding 2005) . When needed, additional questions were discussed with the respondents during the follow-up interviews, and the coding of the script was revised. As the last step of the data analysis, based on the identified categories and subcategories and their dynamic relationships, a novel theory emerged offering an overall explanation of the phenomenon under study (Glaser and Strauss 1967) and possible answers to the main research questions: 1. How did the current pandemic of COVID-19 impact people on individual and community level? 2. What risk mitigation strategies and resources were used to overcome fear? 3. How did the fear of the pandemic affect the willingness and preferences to travel (again)? The level of personal resilience depends on two aspects (Southwick et al. 2014) , external factors, like the supportive and hindering environmental circumstances, and the internal factors, like the psychological makeup of the individual. With regards to external factors, this study sets to focus on the perceived threat of the pandemic as a hindering circumstance and on the cosmopolitan lifestyle as a supportive circumstance. With regards to the internal factors of personal resilience, the personal values will be discussed as the main drivers of behaviour (Roccas and Sagiv 2017; Schwartz 1992). Table 1 is a visual roadmap to guide the discussion of the findings on the resilience to the fear of COVID-19. Table 2 provides an overview of the findings on how cosmopolitan characteristics (cosmopolitan mindset, skillset and resources) that are built up during global travels could counterbalance the instinctive and potentially irrational fear responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Below, each fear reaction will be discussed in detail and contrasted with attitudes and practices of cosmopolitan respondents that seem to offset these instinctive responses. The most common risk mitigation strategy amongst the respondents (Appendix Table 1 ) appears to be an exaggerated self-protective behaviour. According to psychology literature, it is the main and the most common fear response regardless of the type of aversive stimulus, be it man-made or natural (Ledoux 2015) . Drawing from previous public health crises caused by infectious diseases (i.e. Ebola, H1N1 and SARS), even relatively low risk of infection coupled up with media attention was shown to lead to heightened anxiety and exaggerated self-protection progressing to irrationality (Garfin et al. 2020) . For example, Chang et al. (2004) found that the exaggerated fear of being infected during the 2003 epidemic of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) caused substantial decrease in health care utilisation, which lead to an increased number of death of otherwise treatable conditions. Highlighting the wider societal consequences of exaggerated and irrational self-protection, Falagas and Kiriaze (2006) showed that during the 2005 influenza pandemic in Greece the overwhelming public reaction to the pandemic news was to immediately get vaccinated without prior risk assessment, without medical subscription and without giving priority to those more vulnerable to influenza. This led to a considerable amount of people who were in need of the influenza vaccine, including the elderly and immuno-compromised patients, deprived of the vaccine. Psychology literature established that people with a greater capacity of conscious emotion regulation are able to significantly decrease the effect of fear in decision-making (Kligyte et al. 2013) . Risk domain also recognised that risk Multiculturalism evaluation when effortfully kept rational and fact based can reduce stress to a more realistic level and tame irrational behavioural triggers (Finucane 2012) . This explains why the respondents with a strong conscious drive for objectivity and sense-making, as seen in the case of cosmopolitan respondents, are able to effortfully readjust their irrational behaviour when facing pandemic threat (Appendix Table 2 ). Adopting cosmopolitan ideals into everyday practice does not come naturally, it requires a conscious effort (Kanter 1995; Levy et al. 2019) . As the cosmopolitan life requires a constant state of high consciousness, this way of thinking seems to be applied for all other aspects of life, too. An increased sense of coherence, conscious self-reflection and deliberate sense-making, detected in cosmopolitans, increase personal resilience and moderate adverse effect when facing destress (Super et al. 2016). In order to protect the community during crisis, the respondents seem to approach ethical issues differently than other times. Some of them acknowledge that they are concerned with the strict public safety measures, but they also stress that they understand and accept curtailing of freedom and invasion of privacy during a crisis situation as necessary evil. Others, whilst do not openly endorse or otherwise agree with the idea, welcome even public outrage towards (perceived) lawbreakers as a means of compliance for their safety (Appendix Table 3 ). Studies have shown that people, when feel threatened by a disease, become more conformist and respectful of convention (Harper et al. 2020; Murray and Schaller 2012) as well as less accepting of individualism, eccentricity, rebellion and unsettlingly, even creative thinking and innovation (Wu and Chang 2012) . Moreover, even political standing on issues that have nothing to do with the original threat of the disease, like immigration policy or minority initiatives, can be swayed to become more protectionist and conservative (Aaroe et al. 2017 ). There are specific examples, when fear influenced governments to adopt racialized surveillant systems (Sharma and Nijjar 2018) or let national policies be twisted by xenophobia (Lajevardi and Oskooii 2018) . Even under the excuse of the current pandemic, fear curtails privacy (Joo and Shin 2020) and democracy (Vijaya et al. 2020) . The debate about whether or at what extent should we give up civil liberties for the sake of security is in the heart of both terrorism research (Viscusi and Zeckhauser 2003) and infectious diseases literature (Bayer 2007) . Moral decision-making rests strongly on consciousness (Kligyte et al. 2013 ), as it is not evolutionary and natural but cultural and learnt. Reflecting literature, the conscious strive, apparent in cosmopolitan respondents, is seen to be the basis of emotional regulation and the enabler of rational moral processing (Appendix Table 4 ). Moreover, the cosmopolitans do not only strive to stick to rationality and moral ideals, but they can rely on their like-minded social network to act as a tool for social correction (Bode and Vraga 2018) by providing an example to follow and encouragement to stick to moral ideals. A global professional and social network also provide cosmopolitans with a professional safety net and potentially, a financial backup as risk mitigation resource in time of adversities. The heavy media coverage influences how aware the respondents are and how exposed they feel to the imminent risk of COVID-19. The sensationalist news reports the constant live count of coronavirus cases on official sites and mainstream media reporting on the rapid spread of the virus seem to have kept the focus of the respondents on the impending danger. The lack of information and in some cases, confusing information surrounding the novel coronavirus along with the rising death toll created in every respondent a sense of uncertainty (Appendix Table 5 ). It is long established that during times of uncertainty and crisis, the people rely more on the media for comfort and to ease their uncertainty (Ball-Rokeach and Defleur 1976). Counterproductively, intensified media exposure was found to further intensify risk perception (Fazio et al. 2015) . Recent studies have also demonstrated that misinformation, fake news and conspiracy theories easily spread in the media during crisis and amplify the perceived risk (Wang et al. 2019) . Respondents who manage to fight the overwhelming fear response achieved it by keeping in mind the media's power to magnify fear. These respondents recount deliberately limiting their media exposure to avoid seeing the world from only through the lens of the pandemic threat. They also seem to carefully select the media sources they can trust in order to ensure they base their opinion on scientific facts. Finally, they stress the importance of contrasting information in different media to ensure to gain a reliable insight. These conscious media strategies were highlighted by several studies as valuable tools to (counter) balance media (mis)communication during health crisis (Bode and Vraga 2018; Wang et al. 2019) . Cosmopolitan lifestyle seems to support conscious media consumption (Appendix Table 6 ). For example, a diverse (international) social network is a very effective 'corrective tool' to verify information and correct misinformation (Bode and Vraga 2018). An overall distrust is found to be another main theme of risk mitigation strategies ranging from general apprehension, suspicion, avoidance of others and stigmatisation of people who could be sick reaching to the extremes of scapegoating and racism (Appendix Table 7 ). These unconscious fear responses were historically associated with the spread of infectious diseases (Kraut 2010) . For example, the Jews were persecuted for the spread of the fourteenth century Bubonic Plague, European immigrants were blamed for 1892 cholera epidemic in the USA, 1918-1919 flu epidemic is known as the Spanish flu, AIDS and Ebola is associated with the African continent, the current pandemic is labelled by global leaders as the Chinese virus and list goes on. Academic literature also demonstrated that people at risk of infection are more vigilant about keeping rules and more aggressive towards outlaws (Murray and Schaller 2012), as they can threaten their safety. During an outbreak, increased tendency of aggression was observed towards any (perceived) member of the outgroup to ensure they keep distance from the ingroup (Tybur et al. 2016), even if they had nothing to do with the pathogen, like "outgroup" of gays and lesbians during the 2014 Ebola outbreak . The fearful circumstances of the pandemic trigger these evolutionary inclinations. If not effortfully kept in check, they can lead to scapegoating and hate crimes against outgroups, as seen throughout history of the infectious diseases (Kraut 2010) , or currently in the increase of hate crimes against Asians in America and across Europe (Kandil 2020) , against Europeans and Americans in Africa (York 2020) and against Africans in Asia (Vincent 2020). Those who are aware of and understand this human predisposition and willing to fight back this instinctive urge are less likely to act on it (Kligyte et al. 2013; Wen et al. 2020) . Cosmopolitan respondents seem to be keenly aware of this human tendency and the history of xenophobia as the result of fear in general and in the current situation in particular (Appendix Table 8 ). Also, they seem to be aware of their own biases and strive to consciously fight it back. One of the reasons can be that through their own expatriate experience, they can personally associate with both sides of the xenophobic movement, as being part of the majority who discriminates and being part of the minority who is discriminated (e.g. Appendix Table 8 /5). This makes them more accepting of diversity and seeing differences simply as what they are and not as means of superiority and inferiority refuting the essence of racism (Levy et al. 2019) . Personal values are similar to personality traits in a way that they are inherent, relatively stable and most importantly, motivate behaviour by activating preference for certain behavioural outcome (Roccas and Sagiv 2017; Schwartz 1992). According to value theory (Schwartz 1992), there are 10 values, and each person measures differently regarding the strength of each value. The mix of the relative strength of the different values build up our personal drives and ambitions or some say, personality (Parks-Leduc et al. 2015) . The 10 values are organised in a circular structure, where the values next to each other induce similar behaviour and the values opposite to each other trigger opposing behaviour (Fig. 1) . The more important a value is to a Fig. 1 Value theory and structure (Roccas and Sagiv 2017; Schwartz 1992) person, the more he/she is compelled to act on that value and to refuse the behaviour associated with the opposing value (Roccas and Sagiv 2017). When values change the strength of a value changes to motivate one behaviour and hinder the opposing behaviour. Personal values are relatively stable, but can change either effortfully by cultivating a certain mindset and choosing a certain behaviour over and over again or automatically under considerable pressure (Bardi and Goodwin 2011) . Fear, as a considerable environmental pressure, was demonstrated to have the power to change the strength of personal values and so, change the original manner of the behaviour (Murray and Schaller 2012) . Bonanno and Burton (2013) argue that openness and adaptability to change, either inherent or learnt flexibility, are the foundation of personal resilience. So, the reason, that cosmopolitans tend to be more resistant to act on fear, could be because cosmopolitan individuals score higher on openness to change and lower on security values (Cleveland et al. 2011) . This means that they intuitively value openness over security and self-direction over conformity. A fear stimulus might suppress the strength of their dominant values of openness and promote their security values, just as for anybody else. But, an environmental stimulus does not change the relative mix (predominance) of values that build up personality (Roccas and Sagiv 2017). Another explanation could be that cosmopolitans by effortfully cultivating an openminded stance and constantly readjusting their behaviour to it, as this study finds, they strengthen the values of openness and weaken the values of security and conformity along with the respective behavioural implications. Resembling the process of effortful value change (Bardi and Goodwin 2011) . The truth about cosmopolitans' resilience could also lie in-between. Cosmopolitans could have a natural openness and innate risk tolerance that could be amplified and further engraved though a daily conscious choice to live it out. By accepting this notion, two different conceptualisation of cosmopolitanism merge. The one that posits that cosmopolitanism is an innate quality (Caldwell et al. 2006 ) and the one that argues that cosmopolitanism is a consciously cultivated and effortfully acted out belief system (Kanter 1995; Levy et al. 2019) . This view of consolidation might seem the most probable. Merging and empirically validating the various angels and dimensions of the highly complex construct of cosmopolitanism are a ripe matter for future research. Global travel is the way to build up cosmopolitanism (Skrbis et al. 2004 ) and from there, personal resilience, as suggested by Vereb et al. (2020) and confirmed by the current findings. Due to the central importance of travelling in building cosmopolitanism this study aims to categorise travellers based on their resilience to the fear of the pandemic and their willingness to travel (again). Table 3 provides an overview of the main characteristics of each category of travellers in the face of COVID-19. Table 4 lists the most suitable marketing strategies to encourage each segment in the post-pandemic era to travel. Following, the profile of each segment and the corresponding marketing strategies will be discussed in detail. Non-resilient travellers seem to be prone to irrationally exaggerated self-protection, avoidance of others and in a need of rigorous health measures that increase their sense of control and safety in the pandemic. These respondents might not even be correctly called 'travellers' here. They are grounded by fear and due to their instinctive self-protection strategies, they even find challenge in leaving home confinement and resuming everyday life in the face of COVID-19 infection risk. All the respondents in this group scored higher on (self-)conservation values than any other value dimension of the Value Survey (Lindeman and Verkasalo 2005; Schwartz 1992 ). This highlights their priority for safety and security over any other travel motives. The non-resilient respondents might need more than the cure and the vaccine of the virus to consider global travels again. As highly conservative, they might need others to lead them by example. If they see a history of safe travels, reassuring media communication, official declaration and health experts' clearance, they might confidently follow the crowd. Based on their answers, these respondents do not represent a potential market for global tourism at least until a vaccine or treatment is made widely available. This segment might not be aware that their reaction to risk is exaggerated and irrational. Thus, the most suitable marketing approach to this segment is to build up their resilience first, rather than to try to persuade them to travel. On global and national level, science-backed risk awareness campaign could assist them recognise their irrational attitude and could instil a more objective risk assessment (Grupe and Nitschke 2013) . Furthermore, as numerical information is more promptly processed under stress (Finucane 2012) , an analytical approach to crisis communication can easier and faster redress irrational fears. On destination level, the aim of the individual tourism businesses could be to strengthen their overall image of safety through meticulous and well-communicated crisis preparedness (Bremser et al. 2018) . These respondents were terrified at the beginning of the health crisis and acknowledge to have initially overreacted the threat, as some of them put it, they felt "frozen by fear" or "utterly hopeless". But, unlike non-resilient respondents, they did not stay in this initial stage. After some time, usually a couple of weeks as estimated by the respondents, after having some time to calm down, adjusting to the inconveniences of home confinement and social restriction and/or job situation, they collected factual information and sought out (the opinion of) medical experts. Resilience domain considers those individuals resilient who, after a brief disequilibrium induced by an adverse event, are able to adjust their behaviour and adopt to the changing circumstances (Bonanno et al. 2011) . Not solely relying on the feelings of risk perception, but including analytical thinking in risk assessment seems to be the first step out of panic and irrationality (Finucane 2012) . This group of respondents also scored high on security values measured by the Value Survey, similarly to nonresilient respondents. But, unlike non-resilient respondents, they recollect that their security-obsessed behaviour balanced out after some time of readjustment. These respondents find very reassuring the visible safety measures and the progressive reopening of the economy, including the tourism sector. As potential tourism market, they might respond well to clear and factual crisis communication strategy carefully integrated by destination management organisations and kept in line with the message of independent global media and health organisations for a straightforward risk estimate (Avraham and Ketter 2017) . This segment could be a great target for local tourism. Familiarity and proximity could provide them with the impression of safety. Recent studies examining travel trends in the face of COVID-19 also suggest that post-pandemic travellers prefer local travels for safety concerns and to support their own economy hit by the health crisis (Gössling et al. 2020) . Local tourism business could point these travellers to remote tourist attractions, well-isolated accommodations catering for small amount of people highlighting the safety and hygienic measures in place. Another emerging trend in the time of COVID-19 is untact (contactless) tourism (Bae and Chang 2020) , to which this segment could be particularly receptive. Untact started out as a new customer service strategy in the digital era (Lee and Lee 2020) aiming to minimise direct contact between people, like using self-service kiosks or making contactless payments. In tourism, untact travel activities satisfy the thirst for travel whilst minimise the possible risks of COVID-19 infection. For example, in Korea, one of the countries with the lowest fatalities of COVID-19, travellers are encouraged to spend time in nature, stay in accommodations exclusively reserved for one family, enjoy outdoor camping, take scenic driving trips and use local hiking trails (Bae and Chang 2020) . The next level of resilience identified in the face of the COVID-19 threat can be called mainstream resilience. These respondents reach one step further and not only strive to trim their actions of irrationality and to readjust their possibly biased attitude with regards to social interactions as the striving group but aim to act morally responsible thinking of the good of the community and not only of themselves. For example, they prefer to shop in small grocery stores and not in big supermarkets as a way to help the struggling small businesses. They reach out to others and "visit" those who could be feeling lonely and isolated during the lockdown. They prepare masks and leave them out in front of their house and the main square of the town to help the others who cannot afford it. These pro-social initiatives of looking beyond oneself, whilst small and pose little additional risk in terms of contamination, are a good measure of diminishing fear and regained control in times of adversities (Berger et al. 2018) . This group of respondents scored lower on security values than the non-resilient and the striving for resilience group, which explains why they manage to act more rationally than them in the face of COVID-19 risk. Nevertheless, they also admit a readjustment of their initial level of security concern, like the striving respondents. As potential tourism market, they would respond well to marketing communication efforts highlighting that the destinations' tourism businesses are aware of the local risk factors and they follow closely the experts' recommendations on health measures. Security measures are reassuring for this group as well, however, too restricting and inconvenient safety measures could reduce the entertainment value of the destination (Rittichainuwat 2013) and damage the feeling of authenticity this group so craves. They are also the ones who prize highly some of the positive impacts of the pandemic, like decreasing environmental pollution and people adopting a more sustainable and less consumer-focused attitude as the result of different lifestyles lead during the lockdown. For example, they said to prefer to travel less, organise their holidays more locally and regionally and strive to get less quantity of travel but to obtain more quality from it, even if it means paying more. This line of thinking, if sustained, could bring about a new paradigm shift in global tourism that puts quality, authenticity, uniqueness and even sustainability above the recently widespread and cheaper mass tourism. They are the respondents whose cosmopolitan conviction overflows aiming to build up others. These respondents are keenly aware of the risk, the necessary precautions and the legal restrictions, as well as the latest scientific results concerning the virus. But, above and beyond small social kindness that is seen amongst the mainstream resilience group, they take considerable personal risk to help others more vulnerable to the effects of COVID-19. For example, they volunteer in soup kitchens to provide for the homeless, deliver groceries and meals for the growing number of families in need in their local community. Some respondents with medical degree offered to visit their patients at home to continue treatment of their chronic conditions that were serious but not life-threatening and therefore, suspended by the healthcare system. Taking risk for others' welfare is a real triumph over fear (Moscardino et al. 2007 ). These respondents scored higher on self-transcendence and openness to change values than security and conformity values. By this, they demonstrated the textbook case of cosmopolitan value orientation (Cleveland et al. 2011) in the face of adversity. As a tourism market, they could be targeted with the same marketing strategy as travellers of the mainstream resilience group focusing on social sensitivity and sustainable tourism. Offers that support the recovery of the local economy could catch their attention, too. Moreover, they could feel encouraged if destination managers would treat them as partners in creating a safe tourism environment for everybody. They could be invited to endorse responsible tourism initiatives by taking part in it and by pinpointing its benefits to others. An endorsement of a destination from a friend has a greater impact than any well-designed marketing message (Jonas and Mansfeld 2017) , and in general, social reassurance plays an important role in motivating travel behaviour (Moliner-Velázquez et al. 2021) . Tourism business can engage them in online discussions, on social media or personally at the destination asking for their support to (re-)build awareness about the safety of the destination. This study finds no one who is exempt of the fear of COVID-19. Nevertheless, some travellers seem to be highly resilient to the irrational fear of COVID-19 and, whilst being aware of the actual risk estimates as well as the legal restrictions and expert recommendations, they are already planning their next trips. These respondents scored the lowest on security values and particularly high on self-enhancement values compared to the rest of the study participants. However, even they seem to have a general preference to travel to developed regions that can fight better the spread of the virus and that are better equipped to treat the sick. They, too, are more willing to pay extra and take on additional inconveniences for effective health measures that protect them from COVID-19 at the airports, planes, hotel accommodations and tourism sites. This shows that they too do not take risks lightly, rather they keep it rational and objective. They are the target market with the highest potential in the face of the impending danger of COVID-19. They will travel first after the immediate crisis, and their example will encourage others, less resilient travellers, to follow. Novelty, entertainment and authenticity along with the feeling of rush, but not necessarily danger is what these group of respondents say to look for. Approaching this type of travellers with new offers, highly customisable and innovative tours offering unique experiences could yield results. They best respond to adventure-type tourism experiences and active experience-centred holiday packages. Previous research has demonstrated that cosmopolitans are more resilient to act irrationally, out of proportion, when facing the fear of terrorism (Vereb et al. 2018 (Vereb et al. , 2020 ). The current study tested this notion in a different fear context and confirmed that cosmopolitans are more resilient to the instinctively exaggerated fear of COVID-19, too. Moreover, this study shed light on the relationship between global travels, cosmopolitanism and personal resilience. It argues that cosmopolitan mindset, skillset and resources gained through global travels and various international experiences are one way to strengthen personal resilience to withstand the instinctive, potentially irrational, sway of fear. The relevance of the study rests on the psychological nature of fear, namely, that most fears share the same roots, manifest themselves in the same responses and can be controlled with the same strategies (Ledoux 2015) . Hence, cosmopolitanism could be, as suggested by Vereb et al. (2020) , a way to bring about a more openminded and culturally tolerant global society that is resilient to the irrational swaying power of fear. However, it is not simply because cosmopolitans seem to be inherently more resilient, as argued by Vereb et al. (2020) , but because cosmopolitans could and tend to build higher resilience through their way of life. Findings reveal that the dividing line between resilient and non-resilient respondents is the same as between cosmopolitan and non-cosmopolitans respondents. Objectivity and detached analytical approach, observed in cosmopolitan respondents, seem to be the antidote of irrationality at the face of current pandemic. The ideals of open-mindedness, cultural tolerance and acceptance of diversity upheld by cosmopolitan respondents seem to be the remedy for xenophobia induced by the spread of COVID-19. The findings are derived from qualitative inquiry and a relatively short-term (3 months) direct observation, quantitative validation would be crucial to solidify their standing. Moreover, a future longitude study, possibly stretching over years, should verify if by building up cosmopolitanism in the global society, resilience to irrational fear reactions is indeed built up along with it. Another limitation of the study that calls for future research is rooted in the very situation the study aimed to investigate. COVID-19 is a novel disease, and the current pandemic created an unprecedented situation. New scientific discoveries, expected in any time now, about how to prevent and treat COVID-19 and, in general, knowing more of this yetunknown fear stimulus will certainly alter the way it is seen and perceived. Therefore, further in-depth research is necessary to understand more than just the initial stages of this health crisis and to gain a full picture of its effects. Nowadays, fear seems to be the main (de)motivation for travel decisions. Thus, a refined psychological profiling of travellers might be timely (e.g. Dwyer et al. 2008; Vereb et al. 2018 ). This study concludes by categorising travellers based on their level of resilience to the fear of COVID-19 and suggests suitable marketing strategies to approach and encourage each category of travellers in the post-pandemic era. As, the main aims of qualitative studies, including the current one, is to describe the complexity of a phenomenon and not to quantify it (Goulding 2005) , these categories of travellers' resilience would benefit from a supplementary quantitative validation to reach their full potential. To understand the correct proportion of the different group of travellers in the travellers' community and how to rightly adjust destination-wide marketing communication efforts urge for further research. This study suggests clear pointers to a new paradigm in leisure tourism and global travels. A new way of thinking of travellers that attach a great value to authenticity, uniqueness and sustainability, even at the price of restraining themselves from mass tourism and paying more for a better experience. Future studies could explore the reality of and the potentials in this new paradigm shift that is heralded by many tourism scholars (e.g. Gössling et al. 2020) . 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