Innovations in travel medicine and the progress of tourism—Selected narratives

Health and tourism is an emerging theme in research. Focus of this article is on travel medicine, which is a well-established discipline in the medical sciences, but not yet quite so in the social sciences. There is a limited insight into the relationship between innovations and developments in medicines on the one hand, and economics and institutionalisation of tourism on the other hand. The article explores this issue. Three narratives provide examples of the interconnections. The first case describes developments in drugs for malaria and relations with tourism. The second case addresses recreational drugs. The third case investigates the concept of wilderness medicine and the pharmaceuticals and medical gears that facilitate this category of tourism. Thus, the paper demonstrates through some examples that innovations in the medical fields and institutionalisation of the use of medicine may affect the way tourism and tourism economics develop.