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Abstract

Background: This article rethinks current public health policies to transdisciplinarily reorient the countries’ tourism policies as a preparation to future pandemics. This adds to the public health discourse that West Asian international travel megahubs could be susceptible spaces to high risks of transnational viral transmissions.

Method: This is a letter to the editor.

Results: The United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Qatar are the world’s leading international travel megahubs, with Saudi Arabia catching up following its efforts in establishing a new national airline to increase international passenger traffic. Collectively, they are connected to more than half of the world’s leading international travel destinations. While it can be noted that they were able to successfully mitigate the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spread within their territories, these West Asian countries’ shift from an oil-dependent to a tourism-oriented economy make their airports susceptible spaces to high risks of transnational viral transmissions. As such, this article rethinks current public health policies to transdisciplinarily reorient the countries’ tourism policies as a preparation to future pandemics.

Keywords: COVID-19, pandemic preparedness, public health, tourism

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