COVID-19: how can travel medicine benefit from tourism’s focus on people during a pandemic?

Abstract

In 2020, COVID-19 affected every aspect of life around the globe. The spread of SARS-CoV-2 through travel led to lockdowns, travel bans and border closures, crippling the tourism industry. Without tourists, there would be no tourism industry—and no travel medicine. Therefore, scholars started to research the human aspect of tourism immediately to develop strategies for economic recovery. The resulting insights are useful for travel medicine not only to see how tourism dealt with a medical crisis but also to understand travellers better who may be seeking health advice during and after a pandemic.This article presents tourism research of 2020 covering risk perception and travel intentions including mass-gatherings, the use of technology to protect from infection, impacts on tourism workers, residents’ reactions to potentially infected travellers, discrimination, and racism. A potential fork in the road to tourism’s future may have implications for travel health practitioners. Research recommendations conclude the paper. Understanding the industry response during the early days of panic and uncertainty may help prepare not only appropriate guidelines for travellers but also clearer instructions for tourism, transportation, and hospitality in anticipation of the next pandemic.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Tourist Travel Risk Perception and Travel Behaviour: A Case Study of Poland

“…Due to the economic impact of limited/cancelled travel, border closures, and lockdowns, the industry wants to understand potential travellers in order to develop strategies that encourage people to travel again [ 87 ].…”

Robots in travel clinics: building on tourism’s use of technology and robots for infection control during a pandemic

“…During COVID-19, VT was a little something for would-be travellers who had nowhere to go, or people confined to their homes during lockdown. It was excellent for infection control but no salvation for a panicked industry, nor did local communities benefit [ 4 ].…”

“…Without a recent precedence, hence lacking theoretical guidance on the subject [ 4 , 5 ], tourism started research immediately to participate actively in the control of the virus in the industry’s best interest. Much work aligned with the expertise of individual researchers and groups, and covered economic and managerial aspects but, importantly, a large section focused on people, the lifeblood of the industry, to develop appropriate strategies.…”

“…These strategies are of interest to travel health professionals as they address travellers’ health and demonstrate how another industry responds to health directives. Research covered a wide variety of topics: risk perceptions and travel intentions, mass gatherings, physical and psychological impacts on tourism employees and residents at destination, hostility and discrimination, as well as the use of technology to meet health directives and so mitigate tourism’s role in spreading the virus [ 4 ].…”

A Structural Analysis of the Economic Impact of Tourism and the Perspective of Tourism Providers in Kuélap, Peru

“…Many tourism resources have had to close or have experienced a significant decrease in their flow of visitors, which has generated uncertainty and a decrease in their economic income [37]. Furthermore, the technological measures implemented to prevent the spread of the coronavirus have affected workers in the tourism sector, due to the various reactions of tourists to the possibility of being in contact with potentially infected people, generating discrimination and racism, which has had negative consequences on people's mental health [38]. This has caused a considerable impact on the viability of several tourism companies around the world, generating pessimism in the industry and an identification of the urgent need to adapt to the social context [39].…”