COVID-19 and the emergence of quarantine tourism

Abstract

During 2020, quarantine tourism, a new form of tourism, was born due to the political reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those repatriated to their country of residence (often they were students studying abroad) were compelled to be quarantined (typically two weeks) in a hotel facility then monitored in order to slow the spread of the virus to the country’s general population. In this article, the authors explore how this form of tourism came into being and how Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and the two political entities on the island of Cyprus dealt with people coming into the country and the organization of quarantines for those repatriated. The findings, based upon interviews with managers in the hospitality industry and secondary sources, show that governments in some cases took an active role, while local and central government activity varied a great deal in the cases investigated. However, all cases show that there was a strong sense of corporate social responsibility that made managers and owners feel compelled to assist in combatting the COVID-19 when assisting repatriated persons.