Significantly correlation between tourism and COVID-19: evidence from 178 countries and territories

The high development of tourism is considered a factor that facilitates the global spread of infectious diseases. The association between tourism and the epidemic of coronavirus diseases 2019 (COVID-19) remains unclear.

We retrieved the data of COVID-19 in 178 countries/territories from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. Data on tourism indicators were collected from the World Tourism Organization. We used Spearman's correlation analysis to explore the association between tourism and the epidemic of COVID-19.

We find that international tourism expenditure, international tourism receipts, international tourist arrivals, and international tourism exports were significantly correlated with the total number of cases (rs=0.86, rs=0.79, rs=0.80, rs=0.81, respectively), the daily growth of cases of COVID-19 (rs=0.84, rs=0.76, rs=0.78, rs=0.78, respectively), and the number of cases (per million persons) (rs=0.52, rs=0.53, rs=0.36, rs=0.53, respectively) (p < 0.0001 for all), especially in places with high-income. Tourism as percentage of exports was slightly associated with the total number of cases and the daily growth of cases (rs=-0.33, rs=-0.33) (p < 0.0001 for both).

The clinical and public health care providers must realize the potential for the transmission of infections across regions and put more effort to prevent and respond to future infections.