To travel is to live: embracing the emerging field of travel psychiatry

Vampire tourism and vampirism: the darker side of travel medicine

‘Dark tourism’ refers to travel by individuals to destinations and sites linked to death, tragedy and the macabre; with vampire tourism increasingly popular over the last 20 years. The capacity of travellers, especially those with mental disorder, to cope psychologically with travel to associated emotionally challenging destinations requires further investigation.

Analysis of web-based travel health advice provided to international travellers with chronic medical and psychiatric illnesses

OBJECTIVES

The internet is an important source of travel health information. Individuals living with chronic illnesses consult patient organisation websites for illness-related information. We analysed the scope of online travel health information available to patients with pre-existing medical conditions.

STUDY DESIGN

A descriptive content analysis of patient organisation websites was conducted.

METHODS

The Google® search engine was interrogated using search terms related to the principal chronic diseases from the Global Burden of Disease Study. Data relating to 41 travel health variables were extracted from each eligible website. An aggregate quality score was derived for each organisation based on the presence of specific website information. Visitor usage and search analytics for each organisation's website were also described.

RESULTS

We examined 145 official organisation websites relating to 10 major chronic illnesses. The largest number of websites was retrieved for patients with cancer (n = 36). Only 21 (16.5%) websites provided information on fitness-to-travel considerations. COPD websites had the highest average quality score (17.68%), followed by diabetes (14.91%) and dementia (13.28%). Mental health illness websites had the lowest score of 1.33%. There was a trend towards increased emphasis on pre-travel preparation and medications. Insect bite avoidance, malaria, animal bites, jet lag, and repatriation were addressed to the least extent.

CONCLUSIONS

Our analysis exposes significant deficits in the coverage of travel health topics. Patient organisations should provide accessible pre-travel health advice to website users. Future research should elucidate the influence of web-based pre-travel health information on the behaviour of travellers with chronic disease.

Death as attraction: the role of travel medicine and psychological travel health care in 'dark tourism'

Still an evolving field in travel medicine, psychological travel health has not yet been linked to tourist products that may affect travellers’ mental wellbeing. Dark tourism, the travel to sites linked to death, atrocities and suffering, is a product that, on the one hand, attracts people with a keen interest in death-related attractions and, on the other hand, may inflict psychological scars. Of particular concern are travellers with undiagnosed or diagnosed mental illness.

This is the first article bringing travel medicine and dark tourism together. Understanding dark tourism is crucial to appreciate the wide variety of potential stimuli leading to anything from amusement to travel-related psychoses. Travellers’ motivations for and emotional responses to visits of ‘dark’ sites provide an important input into individually tailored psychological pre and post-travel health care. Relevant recommendations include suggestions for education, clinical practice and much needed further multidisciplinary research.

Reiseangst: travel anxiety and psychological resilience during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdown have had a negative impact on global mental health. Considerable fear and stigma surround the prospects of a return to non-essential international travel. The mental health aspects of travel have been historically neglected in the literature. The current pandemic has prompted a renewed focus on building psychological resilience in travellers by engaging innovative technological tools such as virtual reality.