Publication date: May 13, 2026
To analyse international travellers’ willingness to adopt preventive health measures after the reopening of international travel following the COVID-19 pandemic, and to examine whether these intentions were aligned with expert priorities and equitably distributed across socio-demographic groups. Cross-sectional observational study. SITE: International Vaccination Centre of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Spain). A total of 330 adult travellers attending pre-travel consultations between May and December 2021 (73% of all eligible travellers). None. A structured questionnaire assessed travellers’ willingness to adopt preventive measures during travel. Adoption rates were compared with relevance ratings provided by a panel of 32 public health experts. Logistic regression models examined associations between preventive intentions and socio-demographic characteristics. High levels of intended adoption were observed for several preventive measures, including frequent handwashing (92%; odds 12. 2, 95% confidence interval [CI] 8. 1-18. 3), mask use in enclosed spaces (88%; odds 7. 5, 95% CI 5. 3-10. 4), and seeking health information about the destination (78%; odds 3. 5, 95% CI 2. 7-4. 6). The alignment between travellers’ intentions and expert priorities was strong (Pearson correlation >0. 9). Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed limited socio-demographic differences in preventive intentions, with education level and occupational class not significantly associated with the willingness to adopt most preventive measures. Travellers reported a high willingness to adopt preventive measures after the reopening of international travel following COVID-19. Preventive intentions were strongly aligned with expert recommendations and showed minimal socio-demographic variation. These findings suggest that large-scale public health communication during the pandemic may have reached diverse traveller groups and promoted broadly equitable preventive intentions.
Semantics
| Type | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| disease | MESH | COVID-19 |