COVID-19 and international travel restrictions: the geopolitics of health and tourism

Abstract

In an effort to contain the advancement of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, many states have introduced unprecedented peacetime measures ranging from border closures and travel bans to the suspension of visa exemptions, as well as internal mobility restrictions, including full lockdowns and quarantine for incoming passengers. Nevertheless, coercive measures such as sanctions continue to be applied during the COVID-19 outbreak and have largely undermined sanctioned countries' capacity to respond to the pandemic. The latter has prompted renewed discussion of the humanitarian costs of this frequently deployed foreign policy tool against the civilian populations in the target countries. The inconsistent application of border controls and travel restrictions by states also raise questions as to the politics of pandemics and how they fulfill the International Health Regulations. Framed from a geopolitical perspective, this study aims to discuss the power of sanctions regime in relation to state responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper also discusses the degree of selectivity of border restrictions by major global tourism destinations. While the COVID-19 pandemic is first and foremost a health crisis, its implications are economically and geo-politically far-reaching with corresponding implications for the framing of travel and tourism within humanitarian and political contexts.

Keywords:

• Travel restriction
• quarantine
• sanctions
• geopolitics
• COVID-19 pandemic
• coronavirus

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Siamak Seyfi

Siamak Seyfi an Assistant Professor in the Geography Research Unit (GRU) at the University of Oulu, Finland. Using an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach, his research interests focus on tourism politics and geopolitics with a primary focus on the MENA region, cultural heritage, resilience, sustainability as well as qualitative sociological/ethnographic research methods in tourism.

C. Michael Hall

C. Michael Hall is a Professor in the Department of Management, Marketing and Entrepreneurship at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand; Docent, Department of Geography, University of Oulu, Finland; and Visiting Professor, School of Business and Economics, Linnaeus University, Kalmar. He publishes widely on tourism, sustainability, global environmental change and regional development.

Bardia Shabani

Bardia Shabani is PhD candidate and part-time lecturer at Paul Valery Montpellier 3 University. His current research focuses on destination image, gamification, events and tourism. He has worked in different research project from various countries such as New Zealand, UK, France, Hungary, Australia and Iran.