Travel during the COVID-19 pandemic

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries and territories imposed quarantines, entry bans, or other travel restrictions for citizens of or recent travelers to the most affected areas.^[1] Some countries and territories imposed global restrictions that apply to all foreign countries and territories, or prevented their own citizens from travelling overseas.^[2]

Travel restrictions reduced the spread of the virus, but because they were first implemented after community spread had established in several countries in distant parts of the world—they produced only a modest reduction in the total number of people infected. Travel restrictions may be most important at the start and end of the pandemic.^[3]

The travel restrictions brought a significant economic cost to the global tourism industry through lost income and social harm to people who were unable to travel internationally. When travel bans are lifted, many people are expected to resume travelling. However, some travel, especially business travel, may be decrease in the long-term as lower cost alternatives, such as teleconferencing and virtual events have gained preferrence in the professional world.^[4] Some countries with large domestic markets, such as the United States, were able to see a faster recovery from increased domestic travel.^[5]