Objectives This study aimed to quantify German travelers’ preferences and willingness to pay for vaccines against travel-related illnesses and to examine how results differ between types of travelers.
Methods Four types of German travelers (business travelers, visiting friends and relatives [VFR] travelers, leisure travelers, and backpackers) completed an online discrete-choice experiment survey with a series of choice questions, each with two hypothetical vaccines profiles with different features (GSK study identifier: HO-14-13995). Respondents were also asked whether they preferred no vaccination (opt-out). Preferences were estimated using a random-parameters logit model that controlled for respondents’ income level and were used to calculate willingness to pay for vaccines against six travel-related illness profiles (based on yellow fever, chikungunya, malaria, rabies, diarrhea, and tuberculosis).
Results The study surveyed 603 travelers, with approximately 150 representing each of the four traveler types. Average income was highest for business travelers (€76,000) and lowest for VFR travelers (€50,000). A large, negative coefficient on the opt-out dummy variable for each traveler type indicated that all respondents valued vaccination over no vaccination. Disease incidence, health impacts of diseases, and vaccine costs were key drivers of preferences for travel vaccines for all traveler types. The relative importance of the vaccine attributes (other than price) was lower, suggesting that these attributes were less important to all traveler types. Mean monetary equivalents for a vaccine with the least desirable features (2-year duration of protection, 6 months required for vaccination, 4 vaccine doses) against a tuberculosis-like disease was €1,367 for business travelers, €811 for VFR travelers, €812 for leisure travelers, and €449 for backpackers.
Conclusions German travelers had a strong preference for vaccination against travel-related illnesses. Business travelers placed the highest values on vaccination, followed by VFR travelers, leisure travelers, and backpackers. Business travelers are more likely than other traveler types to state an intention to vaccinate.
