The mediating effect of risk mitigation via digital practices on travel intentions following COVID-19 among tourists in Uttarakhand

The objective of this study is to understand how positive trust can be inculcated among tourists who visit their post-COVID-19 tourist destinations. A model is employed to expand the comprehension of risk mitigation (RM) as a mediating factor between service advertising (SA), eWOM, destination trust, and how it can lead towards travel intention (TI) phenomenon to overcome the 'risk and fear factor' in the tourism industry. The data was collected from employees and postgraduate students from academic institutions and universities in Uttarakhand through a self directed questionnaire. For analysis, hypotheses and mediation analysis SPSS and AMOS v21 were utilised. The results obtained in the present study can show positive implications for the tourism industry and innovative practices for developers, marketers and sales teams to create trust, belief and security measures for their prospective customers. A futuristic action plan can be adopted through this study to develop a fear-free, safe and reliable mindset to travel among prospective travellers post-COVID-19.