Is international tourism responsible for the pandemic of COVID-19? A very preliminary assessment with a special focus on small islands

Jean-François Hoarau

Economics Bulletin, 2020, vol. 40, issue 3, 2395-2407

Abstract: This note aims at analysing the role of international tourism attractiveness as a potential factor for the outbreak and the spread of the recent COVID-19 disease across the world with a special focus on small island economies. Econometric testing over a cross-section sample including 205 countries/territories, states that a positive and significant relationship exists between COVID-19 prevalence and inbound tourism arrivals. Thus international tourism must be seen as one of the main responsible factors for the recent pandemic in the first stage of the spread. Accordingly, this finding suggests that the tourism specialization model in the context of small islands is too vulnerable to be considered as sustainable in the medium and long-run.

Keywords: COVID-19; Health epidemics; International tourism; Small islands; Vulnerability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F1 I1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-08-31
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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