An assessment of health as a soft infrastructure for tourism: a case study of Mauritius

Boopen Seetanah, Narvada Gopy Ramdhany and Reena Bhattu Babajee

Chapter 4 in Handbook on Tourism, Public Health and Wellbeing, 2022, pp 57-66 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter assesses the importance of health infrastructure and services in tourism development using the context of a small island economy namely Mauritius. Using dynamic time series analysis, namely a VECM framework over the period 1990 to 2019, tourists are found to be sensitive to the level of health infrastructure and services (measured by a multidimensional index). This result is particularly relevant for small island economies which, given their remoteness, may be required to ensure relatively good health infrastructure and services to make tourists feel safer during their visit. Tourists' income and hotel infrastructure were also confirmed to be important elements in the tourist decision-making process while tourism appeared not to be sensitive to the cost of the destination, at least for Mauritius. The findings of this study imply that health infrastructure and services are also an important element in destination attractiveness and competitiveness and should be taken into account by policymakers.

Keywords: Business and Management; Development Studies; Economics and Finance; Environment; Geography; Sociology and Social Policy; Sustainable Development Goals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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