- Agyapon-Ntra, Kwadwo, and Patrick E. McSharry. “A Global Analysis of the Effectiveness of Policy Responses to COVID-19.” Scientific Reports, vol. 13, 2023.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-31709-2
This study conducts a global quantitative analysis of how different government policy responses influenced the spread and impact of COVID-19. Using cross-country data on interventions such as lockdowns, mask mandates, testing, and vaccination campaigns, the authors assess which strategies were most effective in reducing infection rates and mortality while minimizing economic disruption. Their results show that early, well-coordinated, and adaptive policies were significantly more successful in controlling outbreaks compared to delayed or inconsistent measures. The research highlights the importance of balancing public health protection with economic sustainability. This source is valuable because it provides empirical evidence for evaluating policy effectiveness across countries, offering a comparative framework that helps explain why certain nations experienced faster recovery and fewer economic losses during the pandemic.
- Akhtar, Nadeem, et al. “Post-COVID 19 Tourism: Will Digital Tourism Replace Mass Tourism?” Sustainability, vol. 13, no. 10, 2021.
https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105352
This article examines how the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped the global tourism industry by accelerating the growth of digital tourism, including virtual tours and augmented reality travel experiences. The authors analyze post-pandemic consumer behavior, sustainability trends, and technological innovation to assess whether digital tourism could replace traditional mass tourism. They conclude that digital tourism offers environmental and accessibility benefits but cannot fully replicate the emotional and sensory aspects of physical travel. Instead, they predict a blended future where digital and in-person tourism coexist to create more sustainable and flexible travel experiences. This source is significant because it provides empirical and conceptual grounding for understanding how digital transformation reshaped tourism during and after the pandemic, supporting research on how global crises can drive long-term shifts toward sustainable and technology-driven models of travel.
- Byttebier, Koen. Covid-19 and Capitalism: Success and Failure of the Legal Methods for Dealing with a Pandemic. Springer International Publishing AG, 2022.
This book dives into the socioeconomic circumstances of capitalist economy while pinpointing the event of Covid-19. There are a few chapters in the book dedicated to the discussion of American politics and policies during Covid-19 and how that leaves a heavier impact onto different sectors of American society’s economy during this time. The source is helpful to our research because the narrative unfolds in chronological order from the U.S. initial response to Covid-19 to how it evolves down the road, including an overall assessment of U.S. policies in reacting to the pandemic and how the U.S. performs towards the end of Covid. This source is great for the first part of our thesis, which is how each country’s government responded to Covid-19 because it provides historical context through the lens of capitalism and data visualization that demonstrates the significance that policies have on society.
- “CDC Advises Travelers to Avoid All Nonessential Travel to China: Media Statement—Tuesday, January 28, 2020.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 28 Jan. 2020
This CDC media statement issues a Level 3 Travel Health Notice advising against nonessential travel to China. It directly supports the 28 January 2020 event where U.S. outbound tourism to China is officially discouraged.
- CDC Museum COVID-19 Timeline.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 30 Jan. 2025
www.cdc.gov/museum/timeline/covid19.html
This curated timeline summarizes major U.S. COVID-19 milestones, including quarantine rules for returning travelers and routing of China flights through designated airports. It is used to confirm dates and descriptions of several U.S. policy actions in the timeline.
- Chappell, Bill. “U.S. Drops COVID Testing Requirement for Travelers from China.” NPR, 10 Mar. 2023
www.npr.org/2023/03/10/1162425985/us-drops-covid-testing-requirement-china-travelers
This article explains the U.S. decision to lift special testing rules for travelers from China due to reduced risk. It documents the 10 March 2023 event where the United States reversed its January testing requirement.
- China Opens Borders and Abandons Quarantine as ‘Zero-COVID’ Ends.” BBC News, 8 Jan. 2023
www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-64204608
This report covers the first day of China’s border reopening and the end of inbound quarantine measures. It supports the 8 January 2023 event highlighting the renewed possibility of international tourism into China.
- China’s Travel Restrictions Due to COVID-19: An Explainer.” China Briefing, Dezan Shira & Associates, 28 Dec. 2021
www.china-briefing.com/news/chinas-travel-restrictions-due-to-covid-19-an-explainer/
This explainer details China’s border controls, reduced international flights, and visa curbs from early 2020 onward. It provides the basis for the March 2020 and later entries on China’s strict international travel restrictions in the timeline.
- China to Scrap COVID-19 Testing Requirement for Incoming Travellers.” The Guardian, 28 Aug. 2023
This piece reports that China would end mandatory pre-entry testing for inbound international travelers from 30 August 2023. It supports the final timeline event showing the removal of a major barrier to resuming normal China-U.S. tourism.
- Fact Sheet: DHS Notice of Arrival Restrictions on China, Iran and Certain Countries of Europe.” U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 17 Mar. 2020
This fact sheet explains DHS arrival restrictions that routed flights from China to 11 specific U.S. airports for enhanced screening. It supports the 3 February 2020 entry about flight routing and airport concentration of China-U.S. traffic.
- Griffiths, Robbie. “China Stops Publishing Daily Covid Data amid Reports of a Huge Spike in Cases.” NPR, 25 Dec. 2022
www.npr.org/2022/12/25/1145472905/china-stops-publishing-daily-covid-data
This NPR article reports on China’s decision to stop publishing daily COVID-19 data in December 2022 amid a surge in infections following the easing of restrictions. The article highlights significant discrepancies between official figures and actual infection rates, with China reporting only 62,592 symptomatic cases while internal estimates suggested 250 million infections during the same period. Griffiths examines China’s narrow definition of COVID deaths and includes WHO warnings about inadequate data reporting, making this source valuable for understanding transparency issues in public health crisis management.
- Hale, Erin. “China to Drop COVID Quarantine for International Travellers.” Al Jazeera, 27 Dec. 2022
www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/12/27/china-to-drop-covid-quarantine-for-international-travellers
This article explains China’s announcement that inbound travelers would no longer face quarantine from 8 January 2023. It provides detail for the 26 December 2022 event signaling the end of mandatory quarantine.
- Han, Luyi, et al. “An Early Assessment of COVID-19’s Impact on Tourism in U.S. Counties.” Tourism Economics : The Business and Finance of Tourism and Recreation, vol. 29, no. 5, 2023, pp. 1355–75
https://doi.org/10.1177/13548166221107814
This study evaluates the early economic effects of COVID-19 on tourism across U.S. counties, focusing on variations in travel demand, employment, and business activity within the tourism sector. Using county-level data and econometric analysis, the authors find that areas heavily dependent on tourism and hospitality suffered the steepest declines in revenue and jobs during the early stages of the pandemic. The paper also highlights that rural and urban counties experienced different recovery patterns due to differences in population density, mobility restrictions, and exposure to infection risks. This source is important because it provides quantitative evidence of how the pandemic unevenly affected local tourism economies, offering context for understanding regional disparities in economic resilience and recovery within the U.S. tourism sector.
- Holshue, Michelle L., et al. “First Case of 2019 Novel Coronavirus in the United States.” The New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 382, no. 10, 5 Mar. 2020, pp. 929–936
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2001191
This clinical report documents the first confirmed U.S. COVID-19 case in a traveler returning from Wuhan, including symptoms, testing, and initial public health response. It anchors the early U.S. side of the timeline by linking imported infection to subsequent travel and quarantine policies.
- Islam, Mohammad Monirul, and Farha Fatema. “Covid-19 and Sustainable Tourism: Macroeconomic Effect and Policy Comparison among Europe, the USA and China.” Asian Business Review, vol. 10, no. 1, 2020, pp. 53-58
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d561/619392d6f6667878d997bc3b2182fcdaf035.pdf
This study argues that COVID-19 policy responses varied significantly between the USA and China, with China’s zero-COVID approach creating more severe tourism disruption than America’s sector-specific restrictions. The research uses macroeconomic tourism data, GDP analysis, and policy timeline comparisons to examine how different government intervention strategies affected tourism recovery patterns. This resource is important because it provides direct comparative analysis of U.S. versus Chinese policy approaches and their differential impacts on tourism sectors. For our thesis, this source offers crucial evidence that policy choice determined recovery trajectories, showing that while the U.S. maintained stronger domestic tourism resilience through targeted rather than comprehensive restrictions, China’s more aggressive containment policies created deeper but potentially more controllable disruptions to international travel flows.
- Kolahchi, Zahra, et al. “COVID-19 and Its Global Economic Impact.” Coronavirus Disease – COVID-19, edited by Nima Rezaei, Springer, 2021, pp. 825–837
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-63761-3_46
This chapter argues that the pandemic caused major disruptions in the global economy, leading to supply-chain breakdowns, labor losses, and severe declines in tourism and airline revenue. It uses global macroeconomic data and estimates of GDP contraction to show the scale of the crisis across industries. The source is important because it connects tourism losses to broader financial instability and helps explain how pandemic shocks spread through global systems. For our thesis, it provides the economic background needed to interpret the U.S. and China tourism recovery patterns, showing that financial downturns in tourism were part of a much larger global contraction that our project analyzes using BEA and UNWTO data.
- Koçak, Emrah, Tarik Dogru, Khurram Shehzad, and Umit Bulut. “The Economic Implications of the COVID-19 Outbreak on Tourism Industry: Empirical Evidence from Turkey.” Tourism Economics, vol. 29, no. 3, 2023, pp. 742–758
https://doi.org/10.1177/13548166211067188
This article argues that the pandemic’s severity and government restrictions had measurable economic effects on tourism performance, with containment measures hurting activity while financial support helped soften the impact. It uses time-series econometric analysis to test the relationships among COVID-19 cases, deaths, policy stringency, and tourism revenues in Turkey. The study is important because it provides a strong quantitative framework that links health policies and economic outcomes in the tourism sector. For our thesis, it serves as a methodological model for analyzing the interaction between government policy indices (like OxCGRT) and financial data (from BEA and UNWTO) in understanding how fiscal and health responses shaped recovery in the U.S. and China.
- Kuo, Lily. “First Covid-19 Case Happened in November, China Government Records Show – Report.” The Guardian, 13 Mar. 2020
This article reports leaked Chinese government records suggesting the first known COVID-19 case in China occurred on 17 November 2019, earlier than official public announcements. It is useful for establishing a pre-pandemic baseline in the timeline, showing when the outbreak likely began relative to later tourism policy actions.
- Lagos, Dimitrios G., Panoraia Poulaki, and Penny Lambrou. “COVID-19 and Its Impact on the Tourism Industry.” Coronavirus Disease – COVID-19, edited by Nima Rezaei, Springer, 2021, pp. 815–824
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-63761-3_45
This chapter argues that COVID-19 reshaped the global tourism sector through lockdowns, border closures, and changing traveler behavior, which caused major economic losses and uncertainty in recovery. It uses industry data and early global tourism statistics to show declines in demand and revenue. This source is important because it provides a foundational overview of how the pandemic disrupted tourism systems worldwide. For our thesis, it helps explain the initial financial and behavioral mechanisms behind the collapse of tourism, which gives context for analyzing later recovery trends in the U.S. and China using quantitative datasets like UNWTO Tourism Statistics Database or U.S. Travel & Tourism Satellite Account (TTSA).
- Lau, Stuart. “China Tightens Border Controls to Curb ‘Non-Essential’ Travel Amid Covid-19.” South China Morning Post, 13 Nov. 2020
This article describes China’s move to tighten approval for citizens’ entry and exit documents to limit non-essential overseas travel. It supports the November 2020 timeline item on stricter Chinese control of outbound tourism.
- LEE, TZONG-HAW, et al. “THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON TOURIST HOTEL PERFORMANCE AND TOURISM DEMAND: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE USING POPULATION-BASED ADMINISTRATIVE DATA FROM TAIWAN.” Singapore Economic Review, 2022, pp. 1–24
https://doi.org/10.1142/S0217590822500151
This article investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic affected hotel performance and tourism demand in Taiwan, using large-scale administrative and population-based data. The authors analyze changes in hotel occupancy rates, revenue, and domestic vs. international tourist behavior during different stages of the pandemic. Their findings show that stricter border controls and international travel bans led to major declines in foreign tourism, while domestic travel and government stimulus programs partially offset losses for local hotels. The study emphasizes the importance of policy interventions, such as travel subsidies and public health measures, in stabilizing the tourism industry. This source is valuable because it provides empirical evidence of how targeted national policies influenced tourism resilience during the pandemic, and offers insight into how data-driven approaches can guide post-crisis recovery strategies.
- McKinsey & Company. “Outlook for China Tourism 2023: Light at the End of the Tunnel.” McKinsey Insights, 8 May 2023
This report argues that China’s abrupt policy reversal created immediate tourism recovery, demonstrating the direct relationship between policy liberalization and industry performance. The analysis uses comprehensive industry metrics to track how rapid policy changes translated into measurable tourism outcomes. This resource is important because it documents the immediate effects of dramatic policy shifts on tourism recovery patterns. For my thesis on policy effects, this source illustrates how China’s extreme policy approach created volatile recovery patterns, contrasting with more gradual policy adjustments that produced steadier adaptation, demonstrating that policy consistency versus dramatic change creates different industry responses.
- Mishrif, Ashraf, editor. Economic Effects of the Pandemic: Implications for the Economy, Finance and Tourism. Palgrave Macmillan, 2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-4367-4
This book argues that the COVID-19 pandemic caused deep disruptions in global and regional financial systems, trade, and tourism, reshaping both economic structures and policy responses. It draws on empirical data, sectoral analysis, and case studies from the Middle East to illustrate how markets contracted and later adapted through fiscal and financial reforms. The source is important because it connects tourism recovery with broader financial stability, offering a cross-regional perspective on post-pandemic resilience. For our thesis, it provides theoretical grounding for understanding how economic and financial mechanisms influenced tourism recovery in different regions, supporting the project’s comparative analysis of fiscal and tourism data from the U.S.
- “Notice on the Latest Requirements for Pre-Departure COVID-19 Testing and Health Monitoring.” Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the United States of America, 4 Jan. 2022
www.china-embassy.org/eng/visas/NoticeonCOVID19testingandhealthmonitoring/
This notice sets out new pre-departure testing and seven-day health monitoring requirements for travelers flying from the United States to China. It informs the 4 January 2022 event on updated Chinese rules for U.S. arrivals.
- Peterson Institute for International Economics. “China’s Zero-COVID Policies Are Crippling Its Economic Outlook.” PIIE Blog, 5 November 2024
piie.com/blogs/realtime-economics/2022/chinas-zero-covid-policies-are-crippling-its-economic-outlook
This economic analysis argues that China’s zero-COVID policies created severe economic contraction, with the Chinese economy experiencing its worst performance since early 2020 due to policy-induced restrictions. The analysis uses quarterly GDP growth data and economic indicators to document policy-driven economic decline. This resource is important because it provides authoritative economic assessment of how China’s comprehensive policy approach affected overall economic performance. For our thesis comparing policy approaches, this source establishes the macroeconomic context for understanding how China’s tourism sector damage was part of broader policy-induced economic costs that exceeded those experienced in countries with more targeted approaches like the United States.
- “Requirement for Negative COVID-19 Test or Documentation of Recovery from COVID-19 for Air Passengers from the People’s Republic of China.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 28 Dec. 2022
www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/testing-international-air-travelers.html
This CDC page describes the temporary testing requirement for travelers from China, Hong Kong, and Macau that took effect on 5 January 2023. It is the primary source for the timeline event where the United States imposed COVID-19 testing on China-origin travelers.
- “Resumption of Limited Immigrant and Nonimmigrant Visa Services.” U.S. Embassy & Consulates in China, 2021.
china.usembassy-china.org.cn/resumption-of-limited-immigrant-and-nonimmigrant-visa-services/
This embassy notice explains the phased resumption of routine visa services in China after prolonged suspension. It supports the 9 November 2021 timeline event about visa services restarting at U.S. posts in China.
- Shepardson, David. “U.S. Suspends 44 China Flights from U.S. to China Over COVID-19 Measures.” Reuters, 21 Jan. 2022
www.reuters.com/world/us/us-suspends-44-china-flights-us-china-over-covid-19-measures-2022-01-21/
This news story reports the U.S. decision to suspend 44 flights operated by Chinese carriers in response to China’s flight-cancellation practices. It underpins the 21 January 2022 timeline entry on U.S. suspension of flights to mainland China.
- “Suspension of Routine Visa Services.” U.S. Department of State, 20 Mar. 2020
travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/suspension-of-routine-visa-services.html
This notice announces the global suspension of routine visa services at U.S. embassies and consulates. It informs the 18 March 2020 event about U.S. visa appointment suspensions affecting mobility between China and the United States.
- Tandon, Ajay, et al. Economic Impact of COVID-19 : Implications for Health Financing in Asia and Pacific / Ajay Tandon. The World Bank, 2020
This report analyzes how the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted economic growth and health financing across countries in Asia and the Pacific. Using regional economic data and fiscal projections, the authors show that declines in GDP, trade, and employment severely constrained government revenues, threatening the sustainability of health financing systems. They emphasize that pandemic-related spending pressures exposed weaknesses in healthcare infrastructure and the need for more resilient financing mechanisms. The report argues for policy reforms that balance economic recovery with long-term investment in public health systems. This source is valuable because it provides a macroeconomic and policy-oriented perspective on how the pandemic’s economic fallout affected health funding, supporting broader research on the intersection between economic resilience, health security, and post-pandemic recovery strategies in the Asia-Pacific region.
- Trump, Donald J. “Proclamation on Suspension of Entry as Immigrants and Nonimmigrants of Persons Who Pose a Risk of Transmitting 2019 Novel Coronavirus.” The White House, 31 Jan. 2020
This proclamation legally suspends entry for most foreign nationals who had recently been in China, effective 2 February 2020. It supports the timeline event on the U.S. China travel ban and marks a key disruption to inbound tourism.
- U.S. International Trade Administration. Effects of COVID-19 on the Travel and Tourism Industry. Department of Commerce, October 2024
www.trade.gov/sites/default/files/2024-10/Effects-of-COVID-19-Travel-Tourism-Industry.pdf
This report argues that U.S. COVID-19 policies created severe economic disruption across the tourism sector through travel restrictions and health-related interventions. The analysis uses comprehensive government datasets and economic modeling to document how policy responses translated into measurable impacts on travel behavior, employment, and industry revenue. This resource is important because it provides an important assessment of the relationship between government policy decisions and tourism sector outcomes from an official U.S. perspective. For our thesis comparing U.S. and China COVID tourism policies, this source establishes how America’s approach balanced health concerns with economic considerations, demonstrating that targeted restrictions allowed for more resilient recovery patterns compared to countries that implemented more comprehensive containment strategies.
- U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Cascading Economic Impacts of the COVID-19 Outbreak in China. USCC, April 2020
This report argues that coordinated COVID-19 policies between the U.S. and China created immediate disruptions to bilateral tourism flows, demonstrating how health policy decisions directly translated into cross-border travel restrictions. The analysis uses Department of Commerce tourism data and Chinese economic statistics to document how the January 31 U.S. travel ban and China’s internal quarantine measures affected tourism patterns. This resource is important because it provides early comprehensive assessment of bilateral policy impacts on established tourism relationships. For our thesis comparing U.S. and China COVID tourism policies, this source establishes the foundational context for how policy coordination between nations can amplify tourism disruptions beyond unilateral actions. The report demonstrates how different countries’ policy approaches created cascading effects that shaped subsequent recovery trajectories.
- “U.S. to Lift Travel Bans for Vaccinated Foreign Travelers on November 8.” U.S. Department of State, 2021
travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/november-8-2021-changes-to-u-s-travel-policy.html
This announcement outlines the replacement of regional COVID-19 travel bans with a global vaccination requirement for foreign air travelers effective 8 November 2021. It is used for both the October announcement entry and the November 8 implementation event.
www.npr.org/2022/12/25/1145472905/china-stops-publishing-daily-covid-data
This NPR article reports on China’s decision to stop publishing daily COVID-19 data in December 2022 amid a surge in infections following the easing of restrictions. The article highlights significant discrepancies between official figures and actual infection rates, with China reporting only 62,592 symptomatic cases while internal estimates suggested 250 million infections during the same period. Griffiths examines China’s narrow definition of COVID deaths and includes WHO warnings about inadequate data reporting, making this source valuable for understanding transparency issues in public health crisis management.