An Investigation of Contact Tracing in Hospitality in the COVID-19 Era

Contact tracing supports the recovery of the hospitality industry in the COVID-19 era because it allows businesses to stay open and keep people safe. Australia requires hospitality venues including restaurants, cafes, and bars to collect customers’ contact details to support rapid contact tracing.

However, contact tracing requires gathering customers’ personal information and triggers privacy and trust concerns. Many customers are reluctant to disclose their personal information or provide fake information for contact tracing. Without enough customer participation, contact tracing will not be effective and a second wave might occur. The economic implications would be rising unemployment, loss of income, and disruption in the supply chain.

This research investigates how to facilitate restaurant customers to disclose information for contact tracing and to reduce their tendency of providing fake information.