Evaluating COVID-19’s impacts on Puerto Rican’s travel behaviors
ABSTRACTThe COVID-19 pandemic has completely disrupted and possibly permanently changed the way humans travel. In Puerto Rico, major travel restrictions to the island have persisted at different levels since March 2020, which heavily influenced residents’ travel behaviors. However, it remains unclea...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis Group
2023-10-01
|
| Series: | Geo-spatial Information Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/10095020.2022.2161426 |
| _version_ | 1797310795451727872 |
|---|---|
| author | Lauren C. Carter Ran Tao |
| author_facet | Lauren C. Carter Ran Tao |
| author_sort | Lauren C. Carter |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACTThe COVID-19 pandemic has completely disrupted and possibly permanently changed the way humans travel. In Puerto Rico, major travel restrictions to the island have persisted at different levels since March 2020, which heavily influenced residents’ travel behaviors. However, it remains unclear about how big the impact is and how inequitable it might be. The goal of this study is to evaluate COVID-19’s impacts on Puerto Rican’s travel behaviors by analyzing travel flows from Puerto Rico to the contiguous US with a modified gravity model. The roles of socioeconomic factors regarding the Puerto Rican travelers and COVID-19 factors regarding the destination US states have been assessed. COVID-19 was a strong deterring factor of travel at the beginning of the pandemic and also in the winter of 2020, but it did not keep Puerto Ricans from traveling during the summer 2020 when most travel restrictions were lifted. We found that the elderly population of Puerto Rico, despite being more vulnerable to COVID-19, were much more likely to travel during the pandemic. We also found that, during the holiday season in 2020, some socioeconomically disadvantaged populations were more likely to be traveling, a direct contradiction to their travel flows the year prior. These findings shed light on about how disproportionately affected populations behavior changed from pre-pandemic to after the pandemic started. With the continuance of the pandemic, this information is extremely valuable for future planning with respect to emergency management, travel regulation, and social benefit. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T01:48:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9bdc296755164738b59cad056a4416da |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1009-5020 1993-5153 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T01:48:13Z |
| publishDate | 2023-10-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geo-spatial Information Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-9bdc296755164738b59cad056a4416da2024-02-14T12:14:19ZengTaylor & Francis GroupGeo-spatial Information Science1009-50201993-51532023-10-0126461662610.1080/10095020.2022.2161426Evaluating COVID-19’s impacts on Puerto Rican’s travel behaviorsLauren C. Carter0Ran Tao1School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USASchool of Geosciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USAABSTRACTThe COVID-19 pandemic has completely disrupted and possibly permanently changed the way humans travel. In Puerto Rico, major travel restrictions to the island have persisted at different levels since March 2020, which heavily influenced residents’ travel behaviors. However, it remains unclear about how big the impact is and how inequitable it might be. The goal of this study is to evaluate COVID-19’s impacts on Puerto Rican’s travel behaviors by analyzing travel flows from Puerto Rico to the contiguous US with a modified gravity model. The roles of socioeconomic factors regarding the Puerto Rican travelers and COVID-19 factors regarding the destination US states have been assessed. COVID-19 was a strong deterring factor of travel at the beginning of the pandemic and also in the winter of 2020, but it did not keep Puerto Ricans from traveling during the summer 2020 when most travel restrictions were lifted. We found that the elderly population of Puerto Rico, despite being more vulnerable to COVID-19, were much more likely to travel during the pandemic. We also found that, during the holiday season in 2020, some socioeconomically disadvantaged populations were more likely to be traveling, a direct contradiction to their travel flows the year prior. These findings shed light on about how disproportionately affected populations behavior changed from pre-pandemic to after the pandemic started. With the continuance of the pandemic, this information is extremely valuable for future planning with respect to emergency management, travel regulation, and social benefit.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/10095020.2022.2161426COVID-19Puerto Ricotravel behaviorsocial vulnerabilityhuman mobility |
| spellingShingle | Lauren C. Carter Ran Tao Evaluating COVID-19’s impacts on Puerto Rican’s travel behaviors Geo-spatial Information Science COVID-19 Puerto Rico travel behavior social vulnerability human mobility |
| title | Evaluating COVID-19’s impacts on Puerto Rican’s travel behaviors |
| title_full | Evaluating COVID-19’s impacts on Puerto Rican’s travel behaviors |
| title_fullStr | Evaluating COVID-19’s impacts on Puerto Rican’s travel behaviors |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evaluating COVID-19’s impacts on Puerto Rican’s travel behaviors |
| title_short | Evaluating COVID-19’s impacts on Puerto Rican’s travel behaviors |
| title_sort | evaluating covid 19 s impacts on puerto rican s travel behaviors |
| topic | COVID-19 Puerto Rico travel behavior social vulnerability human mobility |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/10095020.2022.2161426 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT laurenccarter evaluatingcovid19simpactsonpuertoricanstravelbehaviors AT rantao evaluatingcovid19simpactsonpuertoricanstravelbehaviors |