How Has Travel Behavior Changed After the New Normal

Although there has been a multiplication of studies and texts dedicated to discussing the economic effects of COVID-19 in the tourism industry, less attention has been paid to the qualitative effects on travel behavior. To fill the gap, this chapter interrogates the palpable shifts accelerated in the new normal affecting travel and travel behaviors. The chapter identifies five major changes in the fields of mobilities: low mobility, questions about the right to travel or travel bans, the right to privacy, the biological passport, and the rise of a wicked gaze, a process where foreign tourists are demonized as undesired guests. This invariably marks the end of Western hospitality, at least as we know it. It is vital to mention this decline in hospitality does not start but is reaffirmed by COVID-19.