TY - JOUR
T1 - International Tourism and Infectious Disease Transmission Nexus
T2 - A Cross-Country and Regional Study
AU - Selvanathan, Eliyathamby A.
AU - Jayasinghe, Maneka
AU - Selvanathan, Saroja
N1 - The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article
PY - 2022/11
Y1 - 2022/11
N2 - The relationship between pandemics and travel is an essential element in understanding health security and global change. Using cross-country COVID-19 confirmed cumulated cases and deaths data for 165 countries as of 3rd February 2021, this study investigates the impact of tourism, the experience of SARS and Swine flu, and several other socio-economic variables on the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic at the global and regional level. The results reveal that (1) the higher the volume of inbound and outbound tourism, the higher the number of reported COVID-19 cases and deaths at the global as well as at the regional level; (2) the impact of tourism on COVID-19 cases and deaths varies across regions, and; (3) countries that have experience in handling SARS or Swine flu pandemics have been able to reduce COVID-19 cases and deaths significantly, in particular, the countries in the Asia Pacific region.
AB - The relationship between pandemics and travel is an essential element in understanding health security and global change. Using cross-country COVID-19 confirmed cumulated cases and deaths data for 165 countries as of 3rd February 2021, this study investigates the impact of tourism, the experience of SARS and Swine flu, and several other socio-economic variables on the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic at the global and regional level. The results reveal that (1) the higher the volume of inbound and outbound tourism, the higher the number of reported COVID-19 cases and deaths at the global as well as at the regional level; (2) the impact of tourism on COVID-19 cases and deaths varies across regions, and; (3) countries that have experience in handling SARS or Swine flu pandemics have been able to reduce COVID-19 cases and deaths significantly, in particular, the countries in the Asia Pacific region.
KW - international travel
KW - COVID-19
KW - pandemic preparedness
KW - SARS and Swine flu
KW - cross-country and regional analysis
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85116537946&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/00472875211048932
DO - 10.1177/00472875211048932
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85116537946
SN - 0047-2875
VL - 61
SP - 1910
EP - 1927
JO - Journal of Travel Research
JF - Journal of Travel Research
IS - 8
ER -
