Abstract
Crises and disasters affect the numbers of people traveling either for tourism or other reasons. Many studies have been published on the effects of such events on travel, especially on tourism, and based on the arrivals or departures of travelers to or from countries. Our aim was to assess the influence of these events on the demand for pre-travel medical consultation in an International Vaccination Centre (IVC). Data on 94683 international travelers who visited 113529 international destinations attended at the IVC of Malaga (Spain) during 2000–2017 were studied. A descriptive and time series analyses was conducted. The demand to IVC was 3.47 times higher in 2017 than in 2000. The increase has not been the same for all destinations: Travel to South-East Asia and Western Pacific World Health Organization (WHO) regions has multiplied by 10, while in the same period, Africa WHO region has declined from 36% to 20% of total demand. Thailand, India and Brazil were the countries with the highest demand (21% of all pre-travel consultations). We found out three periods, concurrent with some socioeconomic or health events, in which the number of travellers attend decline with respect to the previous years, or the growth was very slow. Growth in the demand for pre-travel medical advice in parallel with a foreseeable increase in the number of travelers is expected. Pre-travel medical services must be adapted to this increase. This study of the trend of demand for pre-travel medical information should new related problems to travel to be identified and quantified, and should assist improvement of policies and programs aimed at care of travelers.
Highlights
During the past six decades, international travel, especially tourism, has undergone unprecedented growth and diversification
According to the destination and the specific characteristics of the trip, the vaccines prescribed at the IVC of Malaga (IVCMa) are mainly: yellow fever, meningitis, typhoid fever, cholera, hepatitis A
The variables collected by the SISAEX at the individual level are: age, sex, destination, date and duration of the trip, type of trip, clinical data, previous vaccines, vaccines administered in the International Vaccination Centre (IVC), recommended vaccines and antimalarial prophylaxis
Summary
During the past six decades, international travel, especially tourism, has undergone unprecedented growth and diversification. Tourism has become one of the most important and fastest growing sectors in the world. Travelers and events of high international impact foreign countries in 2030[1]. It is further expected that such arrivals at emerging and developing countries (up 4.4% annually) will double those at advanced economies (up 2.2% annually). The market share of emerging economies is expected to reach 57% by 2030
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