The World Health Organization defines health as a complete state of physical, mental, and social wellbeing, not just the absence of disease. Despite this, until recently most research linking health and tourism was concerned with the health risks. Medical investigators have tracked the epidemiology of tourism-related disease and the incidence and etiology of the diseases involved. Tourism researchers have focused on the effect of health and safety concerns on motivation, liabilities for the industry, and the consequent need for pretravel advisories, health, and safety advice.
Relationship to tourism
Health and safety influence tourism decisionmaking. Events such as September 11, the 2002 Bali bombing, SARS outbreak in 2003, and the more recent H1N1 swine flu epidemics and the tsunami disaster in Phuket in 2004, among other calamities, reinforce the negative relationship between health and tourism, focusing the attention of public health and tourism bodies on risk management....
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References
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Bushell, R. (2016). Health tourism. In: Jafari, J., Xiao, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Tourism. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01384-8_98
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01384-8_98
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