Tourists are an under-researched population when it comes to understanding what causes someone to evacuate during a hurricane. However, tourists are a vulnerable population who are often unfamiliar with both the location and hurricanes in general. This study uses the theory of bounded rationality as a foundation to determine what factors lead to evacuation. The participants were tourists in Florida. Factors (independent factors) that were found to have an impact on evacuation decision making (dependent factor) included individual characteristics such as risk belief, connectedness, knowledge and past hurricane experience, travel related variables such as number of travels, means of travel, and socio-demographic characteristics, such as age, gender. The researchers found that the tourists most likely to evacuate were not local, traveled in larger groups and with children, are visiting the location for the first time, and more likely to be female, traveled by own car or commercial plane, have less experience with and knowledge of hurricanes, and perceive hurricanes as riskier than those who are less likely to evacuate. The article ends with providing several management suggestions.
