Interfaces Between Biothreats, Biosecurity, and Tourism: Strategies for Indian Tourism

Abstract

COVID-19 has alerted all stakeholders to the serious challenges of biothreats to humanity and its progress. Tourism as a business has been one of the worst sufferers from the COVID-19 impacts and has been held responsible to an extent for the spread of the virus. The ‘containment, isolation, and restrictions’ of biosafety and biosecurity measures exposed the vulnerability of the tourism industry. The densely populated urban areas in India can always be hot spots for the spread of biovectors from similar biothreats in the future, with a more significant threat to employment from mitigation measures. This theoretical paper combines research from medical science, biology, tourism, and other related areas to develop a thesis that social scientists can add value in designing socially acceptable measures for scientific solutions recommended by experts from medical and other related fields. The general environment of health and hygiene in India needs to be made safer for its population and tourists as a first-level strategy to reduce the risks of biothreats. The next level strategy shall be dominated by science to suggest mitigation measures with parallel action by tourism stakeholders for a socially acceptable face of safety measures.

Citation

Chaudhary, M. and Islam, N.U. (2024), "Interfaces Between Biothreats, Biosecurity, and Tourism: Strategies for Indian Tourism", Islam, N.U., Chaudhary, M. and Vukadin, I.M. (Ed.) Tourism in a VUCA World: Managing the Future of Tourism, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 203-211. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83753-674-020241014