Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Spatial Deconcentration Of Tourism Concentrations: A Visitors’ Galaxy Impact Model Of The Covid-19 Crisis, Jaewon Lim, Karima Kourtit, Peter Nijkamp, Christopher Stream

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications

This paper analyzes the impact of COVID-19 on mass tourism concentrations, such as Las Vegas. It argues that health risks and perceptions may induce a more deconcentrated pattern of mass tourism, with more geographical dispersion to rural and natural areas. The analytical framework is modeled and applied to extensive data on Las Vegas tourism. The proposition on deconcentrated tourism concentrations is confirmed. Pre-pandemic outer-inner city complementary relations between “Outdoor Activities” in 11 surrounding national parks and the “Gaming Industry” in Las Vegas have transformed into outer-inner city substitution relations in the COVID-19 pandemic. This represents the evolving deconcentration of tourism …