Airport surveys at travel destinations - Underutilized opportunities in travel medicine research?

Abstract

Background Research in destination airports, especially in resource-poor areas, allows unique immediate access to travelers at the conclusion of their trip. Response rates are high and the recall gap small. Trip-related health matters can be elicited relatively easily. An insight into travelers' decision-making processes on location would fill large gaps in our knowledge regarding travel health advice provision; yet, this approach is still much underutilized. Methods Using PubMed, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, and ProQuest, a review of the literature on airport surveys was conducted to determine where they were used, their response rates and purpose, and location-relevant methodological information. Results The lack of methodological guidelines in the reviewed literature resulted in recommendations for planning and conducting an airport survey at a destination airport. Conclusions Millions of travelers in airports around the world represent an underutilized sample of potential study participants for topics that cannot be studied adequately in other settings. Benefiting from close cooperation between travel health professionals and airport authorities, researchers can expect not only large-scale convenience samples for surveys, but also opportunities to explore exciting and creative research topics to broaden our understanding of travel medicine and health.