Impact of Terrorism and Violence on Global Tourism

Introduction According to World Travel and touring carry Council 1997, touristry Industry is the worlds prominent industries contributing $3. 6 trillion to the global gross domesticated product (GDP) and employing 255 million populate. (Apostolopoulos, Sonmez &Tarlow 1999). It is withal considered one of the most exciting and progressive industries which has a puffy impact on all other industries. Although tourerry industriousness has sh stimulate dreadful growth in recent years providing incredible experiences to its consumers yet it body highly prone to natural (e. g.Tsunami, Hurri rottere & volcanic eruptions) and human caused calamities (e. g. war, crime & act of act of act of terrorism). This turn out on that pointfore discusses or so terrorism in relation to touristry. It focalizationes on the impacts of terrorism on global touristry and provides an understanding of the relationship among policy- fashioning instability, terrorism and tourism. Tourism, Pol itical Instability and Violence Definition of terrorism ?The US Department of severalize defines terrorism as . . . premeditated, policy-makingly motivated strength perpetrated against civilians and unarmed military personnel by sub national groups sually think to influence an audience? (Sihmez 1998) Definition of governmental instability ?Political instability describes the condition of a country where a government activity has been topp guide, or is controlled by f exploits by-line a coup, or where basic functional pre-requisites for social-order control and alimentation atomic human body 18 unstable and periodically disrupted? (Cook 1990, cited in Sihmez 1998). The study of DAmore & Anuza 1986 states that, Closer scrutiny of terrorism- for the purpose of understanding some of its underlying currents-begs a look at world conditions.As a new millenary is active to begin, nations wrestle with hunger, disease, and numerous other socioeconomic and environmental problems, wh ich are throw out exacerbated by the alarming growth in the worlds population rate, the combination of which may nurture terrorism. It is suggested that terrorist organizations can easily set up members by offering crack conditions to throng living in undesirable circumstances in undeveloped nations. thitherfore, in a situation where terrorism is on rise, safety and stability are the two factors that cannot be ignore while undertaking go a delegacy to other countries.Over the years, tourism industriousness has undergone tremendous changes wherein crime and violence wealthy person increased to a commodious extent. Such exertions suck up had a big impact on tourists mend their travel. Political instability can be categorised into various forms such as international war, riots, social unrest, civil war, terrorism etc. closely of the evidence on tourist motivations points to fear and insecurity as a major barrier to travel and thus a limitation on the growth of the industry .In addition to the openly stated fear there is practically an expression of lack of interest in travel, which can cover an underlying fear. In these circumstances, the possibility of terrorism, how incessantly remote, will have an doing on the tourism demand of a large number of strength tourists. (eds Mansfeld & Pizam1996) Political instability and tourism can be best explained with an baby-siting of crackdown by Chinese government on students who protested in Beijings Tiananmen SquareIn a volume edited by Mansfeld & Pizam (1996), The smokestack of tanks rolling into the Square the violent battles between students and troops the steadfastly relentless attitude of Chinese authorities it was all watched by the world on prime-time television. And most people living in free societies felt repugnance and anger those planning holidays to China cancelled, while those with a vague legal opinion of visit the country correct it on hold for the distant future- if ever General imp acts of terrorism and political disturbances upon the tourism industry Even its exhibit economic success does not shield international tourism from the morose power of terrorism (Sonmez, Sevil F. , 1998). No country is safe from the threat of terrorism and look has shown that no part of the world has been spared by it. The fear of a totally unexpected terrorist attack grips the pass of todays tourist, disregarding of region he is travelling to. terrorist act started to take its toll on tourism from mid 80s, when international tourism was at its jacket (Sonmez, Sevil F. 1998), and it became a major concern for m any countries. Its impacts vary from direct to corroboratory and individual to global. Usually, subsequentlywards a terrorist attack or violence erupted referable to political clashes, a goal recovers back to its normal inflow of tourists in about a seat, but some major incidents can in like manner extend to tourist visitation for a longer period of time, the indicate being over popularity by the media (Sihmez, 1998).For example, India was overexposed in the media after(prenominal) the Mumbai attacks in November 2008 which has had a interdict effect on inbound tourism to India during the showtime quarter of 2009 (Tourism prognosticate Committee, 2008). Political disturbance, on the other hand, has long-term and deeper personal effects on a destination as it threatens the economy, the law and the society as a whole, thus jeopardizing the potential of a country as a tourism destination (Sihmez 1998). Economic impacts Terrorism and political turmoil mainly affect the economy of a country or a region.Worst flush are the countries, which are majorly dependent on the tourism industry. A dear example can be given from 1986, when 54% of Americans who planned to go to Europe, cancelled their bookings because of the risks implied by the rise of terrorist activities during that period (DAmore and Anuza 1986, cited in Sihmez 1998). Furthermore , countries fit(p) nigh a politically agitated country may suffer from a perceived lack of safety by tourists who associate the neighbouring countries referable to geographical proximity, although travelling in the former may be without any risk.Countries often have to bear the costs of terrorism, in terms of investments in security, terrorism risk insurance premium, airport screening opportunity costs and consumer offbeat losses to escort safety and security for their people (Keefer P. , 2008). Psychological impacts meets of terrorism on tourist behaviour and decision-making process (Sihmez, 1998 pg. 13) however, depend on the fictitious character of tourists slewiness travellers and leisure travellers will not react the same mode in regards to risk, as they do not have the same motivations and postulate for travel.Image deterioration / Negative films native all the samets such as floods, tsunami or earthquakes do not have the same impact on a countrys cast as a terr orist attack has. Natural calamities may draw sympathy, and may affect inflow of tourists for a piddling period, but people know that natural disasters are undeflectable, so the image they form of a destination is different. Fall in tourist arrivals in these destinations may recover earlier because these destinations are not perceived as unsafe, as in case of a destination, where terrorist activity is prominent.politically unstable environment of a destination usually has a negative and a much stronger impact on peoples mind over a longer period of time because human action is deliberate and physical injury is most of the time the aim of these actions. Examples and focus on a particular region or destination There are a haulage of tourist destinations which suffer from terrorist attacks. Egypt which had almost 4 billion dollars in tourist pass on in 1999 depended a lot on the tourism revenue. However, the revenue from this sector of economy decreased due to the terrorist attacks by al-Gamaa al-Islamiya.The first attack occurred on October 1, 1992. One British tourist was killed and two others were wounded. During the five year period about speed of light tourists were killed in the attacks including the tourists from Germany, Greece, Switzerland, Japan and Great Britain. One year after the first attack tourism revenue in Egypt felt by 11 percent. However, it increased by four percent in 1994 and by 34 percent in 1995. Moreover, net increase in tourist receipts between 1993 and 1997 was 93 percent (Essner, 2003). The Egyptian government managed to pay back its tourism sector and contribute to the GSP by 5% (Weaver).The factors of this success are the extensive historic and cultural heritage of Egypt that keeps drawing international visitors, but in any case incentive measures taken by the industry in order to sustain inbound tourism. For instance, the national airline, EgyptAir, cut its airfares by 50% after the 1997 Luxor put to death of 58 tourists (W eaver). Event in New York City and Washington D. C. on September 11, 2001 was one of the most significant terrorism attacks which occurred recently. This event influenced the economies of states which depended on the tourism industry a lot.Furthermore, the whole economy of the USA was dismantled which led to the global economic slump (Pizam, 2002). Certain sectors of the tourism industry suffered from the terrorist attack. Hotel occupancy rank decreased dramatically. It plummeted to 41. 8 percent the week following the attacks, a 52-percent decrease from the same period in 2000 (Stafford et al, 2002). In total, 3016 people died including passengers and crew on the planes, people within or beneath the agree Towers and on the ground at the Pentagon. This attack has certain impacts on travel and tourism industry in the USA. security measures measures at the places where large number of people including tourists are likely to gather were reconsidered. The number of US field guards i n the airports increased and other security measures in the airports such as better screening and checking of passengers and baggage technologies were introduced. Security measures were improved in seaports, bus stations and train station as salubrious. It included increasing of the oversight cameras and checkpoints. The number of security guards in these places grew up as well.Moreover, the Federal melodic line giving medication set up the program of increasing the number of bomb-sniffing dogs. The FAA proficient 175 dogs for 39 airports (Goodrich, 2002). Many other countries which have high rates in tourism receipts also suffered from the terrorist attacks. Establishing of an Islamic Palestinian State in place of Israel resulted in the attacks initiated by both Israelis and Palestinians. This disturbance led to dramatic drop in 1996 in the number of tourists which grew steadily between 1970 and 1994 (Sihmez Sevil F. 1998). Another example of suffering from terrorism attack is Peru.Attacks by the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), a Maoist terrorist group caused the decrease in number of tourists from 350,000 in 1989 to 33,000 in 1991 (Sihmez Sevil F. 1998). Word of mouth and previous experience Media Reporting & Image making Intergovernmental relationsGovernment policies and interests Figure 1 Political instability, violence and the imaging process dorm room &OSullivan study (cited in Mansfeld & Pizam 1996) The above figure is a model of various factors that lead to image creation of the political stability of the destination region.Three factors word of mouth, media and the government lead to the images creation of destination, in the tourist generating regions. Domestic tourism is equally affected by the occurrence of any kind of violence or terrorist activity. Many factors such as promotion, tourist attractions, development, new routes, travel prices contribute in to reasonable changes in domestic as well as international tourism. As per the study of B ar-on (cited in Mansfeld and Pizam 1996), act of violence can affect tourism in following ways Tourists may fear being killed or injured. Security checks, peculiarly at airports, may take a long time and even be unpleasant for some tourists. Tour operators, travel agents and airlines may not want to risk organizing trips to specific regions. Travel insurance of tourists and airlines may be difficult, limited or expensive. Friends or relatives at the destination may advice against the proposed trip. This is also supported by Hall and O Sullivan study (cited in Mansfeld & Pizam 1996) which states that, . . . tourism may decline precipitously when political conditions appear unsettled. Tourists simply prefer alternative destinations.Unfortunately, many national leaders and planners either do not understand or will not accept the fact that political serenity, not scenic or cultural attractions, constitute the first and key requirement of tourism. Although, political violence ma y not last for a longer period yet it has the tendency to leave a formidable impact on the tourism industry for many years which further can affect the confidence of the tourists and also the investors in tourism industry. Crisis care and recovery methods employed by the tourism industry Tourism has been a way for under-developed and developing countries to get more revenue.Therefore tourists are a potential target for terrorist groups looking to destabilise and undermine these countries by gaucherie the revenue they get from tourism activities. Recent events such as 9/11, the southwestwardeast Asian tsunami and the Bali bombings have had devastating consequences upon the tourism industry and have shown crisis management and recovery measures have become unfavourable in managing a destination (Robson 2008). According to Santana (cited in Weber 1998), crisis management comprehends five step signal detection, preparation/ retainion, containment/damage limitation, recovery and le arning.Planning and training before, during and after the crisis have also been highlighted (Santana, cited in Weber 1998). On the one hand, research has shown the tourism industry was able to fully recover from terrorist assaults in a period of six to twelve months, at the condition these events were not iterate in the future (Pizam and Fleischer, cited in Arana 2008). However, appropriate management methods must be employed and applied by destination managers in order to ensure image destination rehabilitation.To this end, the management and coordination of human and financial resources as well as public relations through the media for example are critical when it comes to managing terrorist events at a destination (Stafford et al 2002). For instance, a set of recommendations accumulate crisis management, preventive management and recovery methods through marketing could be useable for the tourism industry to restore a destinations image (Sonmez 1998) and prevent any negative p ublicity from spreading (Stafford et al 2002).Furthermore, coaction between tourism industry actors and government organisations can often be preventive and mitigate the impacts of the crisis (Stafford et al. 2002). In terms of preventive and recovery methods, tourism destinations should conjure up the use of information for locals and visitors (Weber 1998) in order to ensure their own safety, for example by signalling any suspicious piece of luggage in a public space through the use of official signs stick on in public areas such as airports, railway stations and stadiums.The office staff of advertising and education as recovery methods is also of importance. For example, the Vigipirate Plan was put in place by the French government in 1991 after several terrorist attacks took place in Europe in the nineties. It is made up of 4 levels of emergency (yellow, orange, red and purple) and has been greatly promoted in France at the local administration levels as well as to the gener al public, especially after massive terrorist attacks such as the March 2004 Madrid attacks and the July 2005 London bombings.Furthermore, government initiatives such as the Australian travel advisory (smartraveller. gov. au) which issues travel recommendations to destinations presenting a certain degree of risk is a preventive way to avoid any accidental or dangerous event. For example, the Australian Government gives tips about Cyprus in terms of safety and security in both the bawd and Turkish part of the island, as well as details about local laws, entry and exit requirements and health issues (Department of Foreign Affairs and heap 2009).On the other hand, tourism may be a way to enhance peace, mitigate tensions between countries and recover from any negative effects of terrorism. An example of this is given by the situation between North and South Korea (Kim 2007). Research was conducted in order to evaluate the reactions of South Koreans after visiting a natural site, Mt Gu mgang, an emerging tourist destination located in North Korea. The findings suggested that South Korean visitors to North Korea had a better image of the country and the people after their tourist trip, although both countries have technically been at war for decades (Kim 2007).To conclude, tourist destinations have the possibility to prevent terrorism actions from happening or mitigate their effects through combine policies of crisis management involving different participants such as governments and private/public tourism bodies. Nevertheless, although tourism is often a victim of terrorism and political disturbances, it can also be used as a tool to promote and enhance peace between countries affected by political tensions. 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