Association of sightseeing tourists and COVID-19 outbreak: A case study of a hot spring resort

Kurita, Junko; Iwasaki, Yoshitaro

doi:10.51094/jxiv.346

##article.authors##

Kurita, Junko Department of Nursing, Faculty of Sport and Health Science, Daito Bunka University
Iwasaki, Yoshitaro Iwasaki Industrial Corporation

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51094/jxiv.346

キーワード:

COVID-19、 hotel visitors、 hot spring resort、 effective reproduction number、 sightseeing tourism

抄録

Background: Long-distance travel for sightseeing, which was believed to have spread the COVID-19 outbreak, was banned until 2022. Nevertheless, no report has described a detailed examination of that belief and policy.

Object: This study was conducted to confirm the effects of long distance travel on infectivity at a hot spring resort.

Method: We used a unique dataset including the daily numbers of visitors at three major hotels in Ibusuki city to evaluate how sightseeing tourism affected the COVID-19 effective reproduction number and newly confirmed patients. Study periods were January 25 through August 31, 2022 for the effective reproduction number and from August 19, 2020 through September 20, 2022 for newly confirmed patients.

Results: Neither measure of infectivity was found to be significantly associated with tourism, as represented by hotel visitors.

Discussion and Conclusion: Estimation results demonstrated that sightseeing tourists might not have affected the COVID-19 outbreak.

利益相反に関する開示

No author has any conflict of interest, financial or otherwise, to declare in relation to this study.

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