Tourism is a fundamental lever of the economic and cultural development of a location. Large tourist flows can negatively impact the provision of public services, such as healthcare. This study aims to investigate emergency department (ED) treatment speed under increased demand caused by tourism. The analysis was conducted on data (covering March–October 2018) collected from the ED of a hospital in Sorrento, a renowned coastal tourist destination in Campania, Italy, by using a two-step strategy. First, we resort to the Kaplan-Meier method to compare treatment in the ED between residents and tourists. Second, through the Cox proportional hazards model, we study the impact of group-specific characteristics on the speed of treatment. The main empirical findings highlight that treatment speed is highly influenced by age and by the languages spoken by tourists. Foreign tourists are best served in off-peak periods, while in the peak arrival period, the healthcare system experiences difficulties, especially for those facing higher language barriers. What emerges is the necessity for a tourism destination to adopt measures to cope with the language heterogeneity of tourists. In a multi-cultural touristic context, healthcare providers and institutions should address the challenge of language barriers by using specialist interpreter services.

旅游业是一个地区经济和文化发展的基本杠杆。大量的游客流量会对公共服务的提供产生负面影响，例如医疗保健。本研究旨在调查在旅游需求增加的情况下急诊科 (ED) 的治疗速度。通过使用两步策略，对从意大利坎帕尼亚著名的沿海旅游胜地索伦托的一家医院的急诊室收集的数据（涵盖 2018 年 3 月至 10 月）进行了分析。首先，我们采用 Kaplan-Meier 方法来比较居民和游客在 ED 中的待遇。其次，通过Cox比例风险模型，我们研究了群体特定特征对治疗速度的影响。主要的实证研究结果强调，治疗速度受年龄和游客所讲语言的影响很大。外国游客最好在非高峰时段服务，而在到达高峰时段，医疗系统会遇到困难，尤其是那些面临较高语言障碍的人。出现的是旅游目的地有必要采取措施应对游客的语言异质性。在多元文化旅游环境中，医疗保健提供者和机构应通过使用专业口译服务来应对语言障碍的挑战。出现的是旅游目的地有必要采取措施应对游客的语言异质性。在多元文化旅游环境中，医疗保健提供者和机构应通过使用专业口译服务来应对语言障碍的挑战。出现的是旅游目的地有必要采取措施应对游客的语言异质性。在多元文化旅游环境中，医疗保健提供者和机构应通过使用专业口译服务来应对语言障碍的挑战。