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Novi Sad, as the second largest city in Serbia, is nominated for the European Capital of Culture for 2021. In addition, the city has a rich traditional gastronomic resource base, belonging to over 16 nationalities living in the Vojvodina area (Autonomous Province of Serbia). This study aims to analyze the impact of Instagram, on the choice of catering facility and type of food, and to discover the extent to which it creates confidence to gastronomic consumers and the brand of the product or service.

The study presents a survey, which involves sharing survey questionnaires and gathering information from research participants. The sample of the survey included only the local population during 2019 year, on a random sample of 155 participants.

Of the total number of respondents, the highest percentage of them follow Instagram posts related to gastronomic objects, compared to other social networks. The results of this study undoubtedly show that consumers have great confidence in this social network and that it creates a certain brand and attitude on the basis of which consumers will choose a catering facility or food.

The process of interviewing people in gastronomy, regarding the impact of social networks on brand, attitude and consumer confidence, can provide an excellent insight into the current situation as well as influence changes that would contribute to better business of restaurant facilities in Serbia.

Doing survey research is much more significant in the field of tourism and gastronomy, as these are industries that are primarily the human sector. The personal attitude of the direct users of the services in the restaurant facilities can contribute to the overall picture of the state of gastronomy in this area.

The study contributes to the development of contemporary gastronomy, which is on the rise compared to many other branches of the economy in Serbia. Researching the impact of service providers, through social networks, on consumers is a way of reaching out to learn about the level of service quality and customer satisfaction achieved, as well as creating loyal consumers and better position in the market.

During the pandemic, two types of fear were identified that occur significantly in all groups or profiles of people. The aim of this paper is to determine which of the two types of fears exist in certain psychological groups, and which of the fears strongly influence the decision to travel.

The VALS 2 method and standardized questionnaire were used for the segmentation of the tourist market or for the determination of the psychographic profiles of the consumers, and three additional questions were joined to it as they were vital for the research of the type of fear and its impact on the decision for traveling. When the reliability of the questionnaire and the validity of the sample were determined, the data were further processed using a computer program package IMB AMOS SPSS 21.00, and then, based on the theoretical suppositions and hypotheses, the SEM structural model was created.

The paper indicates the existence of established types of fears in humans, when it comes to pandemics and similar crisis situations. People are most afraid of infection during travel, and lack of funds and job loss during the critical period of the pandemic. The research conducted confirms that all groups of people, who are determined by the psychological technique VALS 2, react with a certain dose of fear and make decisions under the pressure of fears.

The research had limitations in terms of contact with people and conducting live surveys. The measures during the pandemic, which were carried out by the state, included social distance and limited movement of people.

The work can contribute to the community, along with similar research. The results of the research will be available, and it will be possible to see the behavior of people during crisis situations, and the impact of fears on making decisions, both travel decisions and decisions related to other areas of life.

The paper provides research results on a large sample of respondents, and can serve as a basis for further research in the field of tourism, psychology and similar fields. It is crucial to consider the type of fears, and the strength of the impact of these fears on the decision to travel, during crisis situations.

This research aims at arriving at a broad scope of the lessons learnt after two years of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak by analysing the catalyst and inhibiting factors within three aspects of the tourism sector: destination crisis management, tourist behaviour and tourism industry trends.

The methodology of this paper involves semi-structured interviews with high-ranking European travel agents as the agents represent the intermediates between the tourism offer and demand.

Data obtained from travel agents disclosed the factors that catalysed and inhibited the destination, the behaviour of tourists and the tourism industry trends. By contrasting data with previous literature, constructing an overview of the positive and negative outcomes of the pandemic in the tourism sector is possible.

Governments, destination marketing and management organisations and tourism and hospitality organisations could learn from the lessons of COVID-19 outbreak to cope better with future disruptive events affecting the tourism industry.

The paper is novel as it is the first overview that attempts to synthesise the lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic in the tourism sector by analysing tourism sector's three dimensions: the destination, the tourists and the industry.