Health Radar

Health Radar: health factors affecting tourism demand

This free game is part of our Cambridge iGCSE Travel & Tourism (0471) course for exams in EXAM YEARS 2027-2029.

How health factors push and pull tourists

In the Cambridge IGCSE Travel and Tourism (0471) course, health factors can work in two directions. A push factor reduces demand for a destination, while a pull factor increases it. In Channel 01 of the game, Push or Pull?, you read health bulletins from around the world and decide which way each one moves demand.

• Push factors: disease outbreaks, government travel advisories, vaccination requirements such as the yellow fever certificate needed to enter Ghana, malaria tablets for a Tanzanian safari, poor sanitation, unsafe food and water, and poor healthcare.
• Pull factors: medical tourism, such as Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok, which treats patients from over 190 countries at 50 to 80% less than in the USA or UK, and dental tourism to Budapest. Wellness tourism, such as Iceland's Blue Lagoon or yoga retreats in Rishikesh, India, and good healthcare at the destination also pull tourists in.

Personal health matters too. Older or disabled tourists need accessible destinations, and around 25% of people have some fear of flying.

Outbreak case studies: Ebola, Zika, SARS and COVID-19

In Channel 02, the Outbreak Files, you open four case files and watch the flight paths on the globe react:

• Ebola (West Africa, 2014 to 2016): the outbreak centred on Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, yet safari bookings fell in Kenya and South Africa, which had no cases. This shows that the perception of risk can be as damaging as the actual risk.
• Zika (Latin America, 2015 to 2016): pregnant women and honeymoon couples planning a family were advised to avoid affected areas, so Zika hit specific market segments hardest.
• SARS (Asia, 2002 to 2003): 774 people died, but Hong Kong arrivals fell about 68% in April 2003 and the outbreak cost global tourism around $30 billion, mostly through fear. Demand bounced back once SARS was contained.
• COVID-19 (worldwide, 2020 to 2022): international arrivals fell from about 1.46 billion in 2019 to roughly 0.4 billion in 2020, a fall of about 72%. In the UK, domestic staycations boomed in Cornwall, the Lake District and Scotland in 2021.

Learn the difference between an epidemic, which spreads rapidly through one region or country, and a pandemic, which spreads across many countries or worldwide.

What decides how fast tourism recovers?

In Channel 03, the Recovery Room, Thailand's tourism has crashed to 20% of normal after a pandemic. You decide whether each news flash speeds up or slows down recovery, and watch the recovery meter rise or fall.

• Faster recovery: the disease is contained, vaccines or treatments exist, the tourist board runs reassurance campaigns, travel insurers cover the destination again, and the destination had a strong reputation before the crisis.
• Slower recovery: the disease re-emerges in a new wave, there is no vaccine, negative media coverage continues, and the perception of risk stays high after the real risk has fallen.

In the real world, international arrivals recovered to 88% of 2019 levels in 2023 and 99% in 2024, but some destinations took much longer than others.

Exam tips

• Always show that health factors work both ways: give a push example and a pull example.
• Use the idea that health scares spread beyond the outbreak area, with Ebola and African safaris as your example.
• Name the market segment affected, for example pregnant women and honeymooners during Zika.
• Back up points with data, such as the 72% fall in arrivals in 2020.

The game ends with a model answer to a 4-mark question: "Explain how health factors can both increase and decrease tourism demand." You earn 1 mark for each way identified and 1 mark for each developed example.