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The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of the acceptance of national governments’ restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic on the citizens’ safety perceptions of daily life and future plans. In particular, the aim is to examine the relationship among the citizens who belong to Generations Y and Z and who represent the future of tourism markets, as tourists and as host communities, in three important receiving countries, namely, Egypt, Portugal and Turkey.

This pilot project gathers data from three important receiving countries located on two continents involving 348 residents from Generations Y and Z. To identify the factors underlying the “acceptance of restrictions and measures” and the “Impacts of the COVID-19 threat on safety perceptions” a factor analysis was carried out. Notably, Pearson's correlation coefficient and a multiple linear regression analysis allowed to analyze the relationships between the two factors and a Kruskal–Wallis test was used to assess the influence of individuals’ country of residence.

The results reveal that in general, young generations accepted the measures and restrictions imposed by the respective governments. In addition, the present pandemic has a strong impact on their safety perception in daily lives and future plans to travel. Moreover, results prove that between the three countries there are dissimilarities showing that the countries' situation regarding COVID-19 influences those two dimensions.

This study adds to the development of studies on the impacts of health risks in tourism activity, specifically on the safety measures adopted and their impacts on local receiving communities. It shows that the current pandemic is severely affecting the daily lives and plans for the future of citizens and tourists, which is in accordance with previous studies.

The outcome of this study paves the way for policy-makers in the tourism industry because it presents experiences from Generations Y and Z members, future customers and tourist products consumers, but also from receiving communities.

The results of this study bring some light on how local communities, specifically, the younger generations, are facing this pandemic period and on the impact it has on the way they face daily life, future plans and on their level of acceptance of a sector as important as tourism.

To the knowledge, besides the relevant studies already conducted on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the tourism field, no study has yet been carried out to analyze how residents have reacted and accepted the restrictions and security measures imposed by their national governments and their impact on residents’ feelings and perceptions, daily lives and travel plans. Furthermore, the specific impacts of this crisis will have on the younger generations are yet to be analyzed.

Tourism, as a leading source of income for many countries, is one of the world's fastest-growing industries. Tourism demand is strongly influenced by the economic situation of the consumer, as well as by the political, environmental, security and health conditions provided by the host country. As tourism is not one of the first steps in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, it is not part of the mandatory spending group. Holiday plans are among the first to be altered or cancelled if there is a threat to the tourist's ‘biological and physiological needs’ or ‘security needs’. Thus, the tourism sector is highly susceptible to crises. Turkey tourism movement has faced several major national and global shocks of different origins recently. This study aims to examine the impact of crucial crises and of the current COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism industry in terms of their characteristics, social conflicts, political situation and responses. To achieve this objective, the development of the tourism sector in Turkey has been analyzed taking into account the conditions of the world economies. Comparisons were made between overall figures for incoming tourists, tourism revenues and hotel occupancy rates in Turkey for the time periods before, during and after these crises, considering certain other effects. The figures are related to significant incidents, economic, political, health, social or environmental crises that have occurred at the national or global level.

There has been a massive, revolutionary change over the past two decades in the travel and tourism industry. Mobile technology offers privileges to consumers in order to identify, customize and purchase tourism products and support the globalization of the industry by providing tools for developing, managing and distributing beneficiaries worldwide. These diligent advancements in mobile technology have made it extremely easy for everyone to know instantly as much about the world as they want. The use of smartphones, tablets and mobile devices has empowered global tourists with more flexibility, options and freedom to explore places than ever before. For that reason, mobile technology is a perfect fit for travel and tourism that plays an important role in massive cultural shift of consumer behaviour. All over the world, businesses are struggling to adapt to that incredible spread and impact of mobile technology and in the future, the technology will go on developing and adapting, as well. As mobile technology has been evolving rapidly and spreading across multiple tourism sectors, it is pivotal to take into account its role in creating innovative experiences for consumers and fostering a sustainable competitive advantage for suppliers in the tourism industry. Though mobile evolution has contributed to enhancing the travel factor at large, not much is known about how it has affected the tourism development. Finding this information is crucial for a deeper understanding of how consumers are using tourism-related mobile technology before, during and after their trip. It could provide meaningful perceptions to meet their expectations and to enhance their travel experiences. Therefore, this chapter aims to identify the potential of mobile technology in several businesses in the tourism sector providing guidance to understanding its role to enhance value creation in the future.