How to control cruise ship disease risk? Inspiration from the research literature

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic once brought the global cruise industry to a standstill. This has led to the realization that the development of viable disease risk management policies and measures will guarantee the sustainability of cruise tourism. The purpose of this study is to identify and develop a framework for risk management of cruise ship disease based on the research literature of cruise diseases in the Web of Science from 1996 to 2019. The study analyzed the characteristics of the literature researchers, the relationships between their research institutions organizations, the main cruise ship disease cases and measures. Based on the discussion of COVID-19 on cruise ships，risk management factors of cruise ship diseases were proposed，which include the port country's epidemic prevention capacity, the mode of disease transmission, the relevant regulations on international public health disposal, the design and construction of cruise ships, the medical and health conditions on cruise ships, and the characteristics of cruise tourism activities. A timeline and system framework for cruise ship disease risk management is proposed. A special "maritime mobile community prevention and control system" should be established, and a cooperation mechanism consisting of the government, non-governmental organizations, trade groups and industry experts should be established. The port should be capable of border isolation, detection and establishment of temporary shelter hospitals. At the same time, big data technologies such as disease tracking, investigation and health data are also important components of the risk management system.

Keywords: COVID-19; Cruise diseases; Risk management; Web of science.

Fig. 1

The number of articles on cruise diseases published in 1996–2019.

Fig. 2

Global cruise disease research productivity contribution.

Fig. 3

Organizational cooperation network in cruise disease research. Note: (a) network visualization of 150 organizations based on total link strength; (b) network visualization with a record ≥ 2 in WOS.

Fig. 4

Author cooperation network in cruise disease research. Note: (a) and (b) are cooperative groups of prolific authors; (c) network visualization was based on total link strength.

Fig. 5

Prolific contemporary authors in cruise diseases.

Fig. 6

Contribution to scientific productivity by WOS categories.

Fig. 7

Keywords visualization network in cruise disease research. Note: (a) overlay visualization was based on occurrences-weights and average publication year scores; (b) network visualization with frequency ≥ 3.

Fig. 8

Research hotpots of cruise disease.

Fig. 9

Factors of cruise diseases prevention and control management.

Fig. 10

The process of cruise ship disease risk management.

Fig. 11

Maritime mobile community prevention and control system.

Fig. 12

Risk management framework for cruise diseases.