1,057
Views
7
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Research Note

Does domestic tourism influence COVID-19 cases and deaths?

, ORCID Icon &
Pages 338-351 | Received 19 Apr 2021, Accepted 20 Jul 2021, Published online: 08 Aug 2021
 

ABSTRACT

Motivated by the current local travel restrictions imposed by most countries around the world, we examine the relationship between domestic travels and the COVID-19 cases and deaths. We use data from more than 90 countries and apply multivariate regressions for two different periods (January–June 2020 and July–December 2020). We control for a number of variables, including the Covid-19 Government Response Stringency Index, which is very comprehensive in its conceptualization. Using 2SLS estimators, we provide evidence that countries with higher levels of domestic travels experienced higher levels of COVID-19 cases and deaths over the first six months of pandemic. However, domestic tourism decorrelated with the pandemic spread from July to December 2020. Theoretically, we demonstrate that during the early stages of Covid-19, domestic tourism is potentially a vector of the virus spread, but once a country is hit by the pandemic, other local factors take precedence. Practically, these findings provide empirical support to governments policies to restrict residents’ non-essential domestic travels to reduce spreading the virus during the first few months of the pandemic.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 We also estimate the models by including a dummy variable for countries’ income level (based on the World Bank classification of countries). However, the sign and significance of ‘Domestic Trip’ coefficient remains unchanged even after controlling for countries’ income level.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.