Risk Perception and Tourism Behaviour: How to Control Pandemic Infectious Diseases Through Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) ?

Starting point: Transport networks can be understood as vectors in the distribution of pathogens. Tourism in general is one reason for COVID-19 jumping regional boundaries to infect humans. Thus, international outbound and domestic tourism by the Swiss population for purposes of business, recreation and visiting friends and relatives (VFR) is one source of infection of COVID-19 and marks out viral transmission routes due to exposure to and social interactions with other tourists and locals at tourist destinations. In 2018 there were 55.4 million overnight stays in tourist accommodation by Swiss residents. Research Question:How do travelers perceive the risk of pandemic infections while traveling and how does this affect decisions regarding tourist behavior and the usage and acceptance of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) while travelling? Answers on this research question is essential for breakthrough research in containment measures. Objective: This research will set the groundwork for evidence-based intervention design in the domain of tourism behaviour in order to control pandemic infectious diseases by non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs).Method: Socio-psychological models are promising new approaches in Covid-19 research on epidemiology and disease prevention. We combine the well-established Theory of Planned Behaviour TPB with the Health Belief Model HBM to the scope of the application of tourism based on a nationwide representative survey. By identifying significant influencing dimensions from the combination of these two models, various measures and interventions will be researched by means of a second surveys that is based on an experimental design. Practical Implementation: By means of evidence-based intervention designs, the intended project results will develop new strategies and guidelines for infection prevention and population monitoring in the high-risk field of tourism. These strategies and guidelines for infection prevention in the field of tourism will lead to toolboxes (brochures) guiding containment measures to be used by our stakeholders, which include - inter alia - the Swiss Federal Office for Civil Protection FOCP.