Many countries have recently strived to accelerate the tourism recovery process by restarting their tourism industry despite the unprecedented risks of the COVID-19 crisis. Noticeably, several
tourism destinations have experienced an impressive revitalization of both domestic and international
tourist arrivals right after lifting all social distance restrictions. However, little is known about how a
tourist destination may revive from the pandemic and to what extent tourists are willing to support a
destination recovery. This study, therefore, aims to examine factors influencing the travel demand of
domestic tourism and tourists’ willingness to support a destination recovery in new normal conditions. The Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling was employed to predict the structural
model derived from a sample size of 695 valid questionnaires. The results indicate that there is a
significant improvement in domestic tourists’ travel intention and their willingness to support the
post-pandemic destination revival. It is interesting to learn that the destination health risk image is no
longer a critical determinant to tourists’ travel plans, while other factors including attitude, monetary
promotion, and social media significantly influence their travel intention and support of tourism
destination re-opening in new normal conditions. Theoretically, this study generates important
contributions to post-disaster crisis management and predicting tourists’ behavioral intentions that
may influence tourism destination recovery prospects. Practically, the study also provides several
important implications to rebuild the domestic tourism industry in a more resilient way against
future pandemic challenges.