No Visitors, No Virus

Outside Bangui in the Central African Republic.

There is unsurprisingly a strong correlation between tourist numbers and spread of the coronavisrus. Only 16 out of the world’s 198 countries are coronavirus free, and 10 out of these are among the 24 least-visited countries on the planet. Closing the borders early, or hardly having any visitors seem to be an advantage when facing a pandemic.

Two out of the four least-least visited countries have detected the coronavirus; Libya with 200 annual tourists and Yemen with 60. Neither Nauru with 130 tourists per year nor Tuvalu with 800 have detected anyone with COVID-19, according to Worldometer’s statistics, as of April 8 at 14:09 CET (12:09 GMT), with the Yemen figure addes on April 10 at 17:14 CET.

Both Nauru and Tuvalu are island nations in the Pacific. In fact, out of of the 14 countries in Oceania, only four have reported coronavirus cases: Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.

There are none in Kiribati (9th least-visited country), Marshall Islands (10th), Federated States of Micronesia (14th), Solomon Islands (16th), Tonga (24th), Vanuatu (34th), Palau (37th) or Samoa (43rd).

Do note that some of the countries “without” coronavirus may not belong on the list. North Korea is unlikely to report cases even if they have any and the media in Turkmenistan self-censor and do not mention the coronavirus at all.

Correspondingly, the countries with most tourists are among those worst affected. The six countries with the most cases are all among the nine which get the highest number of visitors. USA (2nd most-visited country), Spain (3rd), Italy (4th), Germany (9th), France (most visited) and China (5th). The odd one out here is Iran (51st).

It is also worth noticing that both Mexico (6th) and Thailand (10th) only have less than 3 000 coronavirus cases. I would not be surprised if those numbers explode anytime soon.

The 17 countries without any coronavirus cases are in Oceania (10 countries): Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu; Asia (3): North Korea, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan; Africa (2): Comoros, Lesotho; Europe (1): Kosovo

You can find figures of annual tourist numbers and detected coronavirus cases for all 198 countries below. Tourist figures were collected for Elsewhere (Norwegian title: Ingenstad), my book about the world’s 20 least-visited countries.

Also: How to travel while not.

Least-visited out of 198CountryTouristsCoronavirus cases1Yemen60 12Nauru130 3Libya200214Tuvalu800 5Central African Republic1 00086Eritrea2 000317South Sudan2 20028Equatorial Guinea2 400169Kiribati3 600 10Marshall Islands6 000 11Turkmenistan7 000 12Somalia12 200813Afghanistan13 40042314Federated States of Micronesia24 000 15Guinea24 50014416Solomon Islands26 000 17Comoros28 000 18São Tomé and Príncipe29 000419Mauritania39 000620Guinea-Bissau44 0003321Sierra Leone54 000722Liberia57 0001423Western Sahara59 000424Tonga62 000 25Burundi66 000326East Timor74 000127St. Vincent and Grenadines76 000828San Marino78 00027929Liechtenstein79 0007830Dominica79 0001531Syria90 0001932North Korea90 000 33Djibouti103 00013534Vanuatu109 000 35Saint Kitts and Nevis114 0001136Chad120 0001037Palau123 000 38Kosovo124 000 39Bangladesh143 00021840Burkina Faso143 00038441Moldova145 0001 05642Grenada146 0001243Samoa146 000 44Congo (DRC)150 00018045Niger152 00027846Gambia161 000447Papua New Guinea179 000248Mali193 0005649Kuwait203 00085550Congo Brazzaville211 0004551Guyana247 0003352Antigua and Barbuda247 0001953Bhutan255 000554Madagascar255 0009355Brunei259 00013556Benin267 0002657Suriname278 0001058Seychelles350 0001159Monaco355 0007960Saint Lucia386 0001461Trinidad and Tobago395 00010762Angola397 0001763Tajikistan415 000 64Haiti420 0002565Belize427 000766Mongolia469 0001667Lesotho470 000 68Togo496 0006569Uzbekistan500 00053470Palestine503 00026371Gabon600 0003072Venezuela601 00016673North Macedonia631 00059974Barbados664 0006375Cabo Verde668 000776Cameroon710 00068577Sudan800 0001478Fiji843 0001579Malawi849 000880Ethiopia871 0005581Iraq875 0001 12282Ghana900 00028783Eswatini921 0001084Bosnia and Hercegovina922 00077785Belarus933 0001 06686Honduras936 00031287Nepal940 000988Bolivia956 00021088Zambia956 0003990Senegal1 000 00023791Luxembourg1 046 0002 97092Namibia1 095 0001693Rwanda1 173 00010594Pakistan1 207 0004 07295Tanzania1 230 0002496Uganda1 320 0005297Mauritius1 340 00026898Kenya1 360 00017299Maldives1 390 00019100Bahamas1 480 00036101Armenia1 495 000881102Serbia1 500 0002 447103Paraguay1 540 000119104El Salvador1 560 00093105Ecuador 1 610 0003 995106Botswana1 625 0006107Mozambique1 640 00010108Guatemala1 660 00080109Nicaragua1 790 0006110Ivory Coast1 800 000349111Panama1 840 0002 249112Lebanon1 860 000575113Montenegro1 880 000248114Latvia1 950 000577115Sri Lanka2 120 000188116Iceland2 220 0001 586117Qatar2 260 0002 210118Malta2 270 000299119Oman 2 290 000419120Jamaica2 350 00063121Zimbabwe2 420 00011122Algeria2 451 0001 468123Azerbaijan2 454 000717124Lithuania2 520 000912125Romania2 760 0004 761126Costa Rica2 960 000483127Andorra3 000 000545128Kyrgyzstan3 100 000270129Finland3 200 0002 487130Estonia3 250 0001 185131Laos3 260 00015132Nigeria3 330 000254133Myanmar3 440 00022134Georgia3 480 000208135Slovenia3 600 0001 091136Israel3 610 0009 404137Cypros3 650 000494138Uruguay3 680 000424139New Zealand3 730 0001 210140Jordan3 840 000353141Vatican3 900 0007142Cuba 3 970 000396143Colombia4 027 0001 780144Peru 4 032 0002 954145Bahrain4 370 000811146Albania4 640 000400147Kazakhstan4 800 000709148Iran4 870 00064 586149Slovakia5 520 000581150Cambodia5 600 000117151Dominican Republic6 200 0001 956152Norway6 250 0006 086153Chile6 450 0005 116154Brazil6 550 00014 072155Philippines6 600 0003 870156Argentina6 700 0001 715157Sweden6 900 0008 419158Tunisia 7 050 000623159Egypt8 200 0001 450160Belgium8 400 00023 403161Australia8 800 0006 013162Bulgaria8 900 000581163Ireland10 100 0005 709164South Africa10 300 0001 749165Taiwan10 700 000379166Denmark10 800 0005 386167Switzerland11 100 00022 789168Morocco11 350 0001 242169Portugal11 400 00013 141170Czechia12 100 0005 033171Vietnam12 920 000251172Indonesia12 950 0002 956173South Korea13 300 00010 384174Singapore13 900 0001 481175Ukraine14 200 0001 668176India15 500 0005 480177Croatia15 600 0001 343178Hungary15 790 000895179United Arab Emirates15 800 0002 359180Saudi Arabia16 100 0002 795181Poland18 400 0005 000182Netherlands19 800 00020 549183Canada20 800 00017 897184Russia24 400 0008 672185Malaysia26 000 0004 119186Greece27 200 0001 832187Japan28 700 0004 257188Austria29 500 00012 824189Thailand35 400 0002 369190Germany37 500 000107 663191Turkey37 600 00034 109192United Kingdom39 200 00055 242193Mexico39 300 0002 785194China55 000 00081 802195Italy58 300 000135 586196Spain81 800 000146 690197USA84 000 000400 549198France88 500 000109 069

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