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During the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism slowed down as the world went into lockdown. This pause in tourism provides a unique opportunity to analyze the environmental and socioeconomic effects of tourism by comparing tourism participation levels before, during, and after the pandemic restrictions. We examined tourism in Iceland, an island nation in the Arctic where international tourists vastly outnumber residents. Specifically, we systematically analyzed the materials, energy, tourist, and information flows, as well as the causes, effects, and agents of tourism in Iceland using the framework of telecoupling (human-nature interactions over distances). Results show that the U.S., U.K., and Nordic countries sent the highest numbers of tourists to Iceland. Flows of tourists to Iceland were tracked based on international flights and cruise ships, with Iceland’s tourism industry returning close to pre-pandemic levels in 2022 for air arrivals, while cruise ship tourism was slower in returning to pre-pandemic levels. Agents in the Icelandic tourism industry include government entities, local businesses, tour operators, and many others. There are diverse causes for tourism in Iceland, such as the demand for nature-based tourism and a cooler climate. International tourism in Iceland had both substantial environmental effects (CO2 emissions, damage to sensitive areas, etc.) and socioeconomic effects (e.g., increases in GDP and jobs). Many effects also spillover to the rest of the world as increases in CO2 emissions contribute to global climate change. Tourism is also expected to continue increasing after Iceland’s 2022 marketing launch of “Iceland Together in Progress.” Since Iceland has had such a strong tourism rebound, other countries around the world (especially other Arctic countries) that are looking to increase their tourism can gain insights from Iceland. However, it is important to make tourism more sustainable (e.g., reduction in CO2 emissions).
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Global Mpox spread due to increased air travel
Mpox is an emerging, infectious disease that has caused outbreaks in at least 91 countries from May to August 2022. We assessed the link between international air travel patterns and Mpox transmission risk, and the relationship between the translocation of Mpox and human mobility dynamics after travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic had been lifted. Our three novel observations were that: i) more people traveled internationally after the removal of travel restrictions in the summer of 2022 compared to pre-pandemic levels; ii) countries with a high concentration of global air travel have the most recorded Mpox cases; and iii) Mpox transmission includes a number of previously nonendemic regions. These results suggest that international airports should be a primary location for monitoring the risk of emerging communicable diseases. Findings highlight the need for global collaboration concerning proactive measures emphasizing realtime surveillance.
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- PAR ID:
- 10516826
- Publisher / Repository:
- PagePress
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Geospatial Health
- Volume:
- 19
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 1827-1987
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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null (Ed.)The global public health community is grappling with COVID-2019, a respiratory disease outbreak caused by a novel coronavirus originating from Wuhan, China in late December 2019. A number of countries implemented citizenship-based travel restrictions in late January and early February as an initial response to the outbreak, barring entry to foreign nationals who had previously been in China to prevent the importation of the virus. By early March, when the World Health Organization (WHO) formally declared the outbreak to be a global pandemic, these countries were still relying on travel restrictions as a means of infection control. These travel restrictions constituted restrictions or outright bans on the entry of foreign nationals with a particular citizenship-such policies tend to be popular with a general public with limited public health knowledge. However, travel restrictions are ineffective as an infection control measure and may do more harm than good, depriving the public of its right to health. Furthermore, travel restrictions implemented under the guise of public health policy have historically been used to target migrants and racial and ethnic minorities, violating their rights to nondiscrimination and equal treatment. As states rush to balance public health with politics in their response to this global pandemic, they are sidelining human rights rather than protecting themmore » « less
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.4081/gh.2024.1261
