Threat of Terrorism on International Tourism - Coursework Example

Threat of Terrorism on International Tourism Name Institution Course Date Executive Summary International tourism is a very huge contributor to both the economic, social and culture of a nation. This report analyses how it promotes the growth of the economy by creating job opportunities amongst the people as well as increasing the GDP of the tourist destination. In addition, it promotes the spread of both social and cultural ethnicity between the international visitors and the local people. According to this report, terrorism is a major factor that threatens the tourism industry. It creates unrest amongst nations reducing the number of tourist travel affecting the economic and socio-cultural aspects of the travel destinations. This report has analysed that terrorism leads to the drop in the number of tourists travelling to those destinations. This terror attacks induces substitution away from the air travel and also causes a shift in preference of travelers for a specific destination. Therefore, diverting the number of tourists meant to visit the affected country to other destinations. In addition, it also leads to social unrest between the cultures of the parties involves in terrorism. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 Link between International Tourism and Terrorism 5 Impact of Terrorism on Tourism Economic Factors 6 Impact of Terrorism on Tourism Socio-cultural Factors 7 Future Impact of these Issues on International Tourism 8 Conclusion 9 References 11 Introduction International Tourism is defined as a global commercial organization of holidays as well as visits to places of interest by people all over the world. International tourism has experienced great growth and has become one of the fastest growing economic sectors all over the world (Goldblatt and Hu, 2005). International tourism is directly interrelated to development and therefore comprehends the increasing number of new destinations. In addition, international tourism has grown to become one of the chief participants in the international commerce and hence signifies the major income contributor for most of the developing countries. Its growth goes together with a substantial increase in both diversification as well as competition between travel destinations (Lutz and Lutz, 2008). Over the past 30 years, international tourism has significantly been growing and then continues to grow. A statistics from study carried out has shown that about one billion tourists have toured the world by the year 2012 making a record within the international tourism sector (Korstanje and Clayton, 2012). It accounted for at least one in every job created as well as 30 per cent of the world’s service export. In the same year international tourism with regard to destinations grew by about 4percent reaching an estimated US $ 1,075 billion. Therefore, for developing countries, international tourism acts as a major export product (Korstanje and Clayton, 2012). On the other hand, the major challenge that faces the international tourism sector is the steep rise in occurrence of terrorism activities (Goldblatt and Hu, 2005). Terrorism is described as the unlawful utilization of both force and violence against either an individual or a property with an intention of insinuating intimidation a state government or civilian population in advancement of either political or social objective. Terrorism is also described as an offence set out in a list with an intention of damaging a nation or even an international organization in order to prevent them from performing any act (Goldblatt and Hu, 2005). In addition, these offences are committed so as to destabilize the essential of political, constitutional, economic or even social arrangements of a nation or an international organization. Terrorism is not a new concept since it has been used during the early days. It is considered a criminal act that influences an audience beyond the immediate victim. Therefore, terrorist choose to carry such cynical acts in order to assert violence towards a local populace, government and the entire world to their cause (Horgan, 2005). This paper will discuss the relationship between tourism and terrorism. It will also discuss the various effects of terrorism on the tourism economy as well as the effects of terrorism to the socio-cultural aspects of tourism. Furthermore, this paper will identify the future implication of terrorism on the international tourism industry within the next ten years. Link between International Tourism and Terrorism International terrorism and tourism are contradictory interrelated to each other due to their mutual features such as inter-boarder movements, the involvement of individuals from different nations as well as the utilization of travel and communication technologies (Korstanje and Clayton, 2012). The words tourism and terrorism be at opposite ends of a continuum of quality of life. According to Horgan (2005), tourists are chiefly concerned with moving from one tourist destination to another in order to satisfy their desires with little to none complications and threats to their safely. On the other hand, Horgan (2005) argued that physical threats imposed to one’s plans are suffered to minimize the predictions of a travel destination. Their relationship was first diagnosed in the year 1972 during the Munich Olympic Games. The events that occurred on that fateful day resulted to the death of 11 people including Israeli athletes and was watched by over 800 million global viewers. From that day, international tourists have raised their heads and have become more aware of such relationships. This strongly suggests that the fear of tourists of terrorists is neither parallel to the low level of risks. Terrorism has the ability to instill fear and can intimidate the tourism industry in very many ways. This danger created by terrorism attacks poses a continuous atmosphere of risk for tourism all over the world (Horgan, 2005). During the mid-80’s, tourists demonstrated their reaction towards the acts of terrorism by sharply lowering the rate of tourism in London. This was so due to the bombing campaign demonstrated by the Irish Republic Army in England. The ‘fear’ of threat showed by today’s tourists even though they have a less likelihood of being affected by any terrorist incident since the threat of terrorism is very much real. Even though the risk of being exposed to terrorism activities is low, the dangers to tourists from terrorism is real since they are declared very easy targets and also they are easily identified by the terrorists as a symbol of the enemies. In addition, they facilitate being the terrorists targets since the tourist destinations most at times are good grounds for committing such attacks (Goldblatt and Hu, 2005). In addition, the correlation between tourism and terrorism is undeniable in this age due to the ability of the industry and the ideology that tourist destinations are the most prone to terrorist attacks (Horgan, 2005). Furthermore, they are easy targets for tourists for making a substantial amount of both economic and social disturbances within a nation. Additionally, some individuals argue that we coexist in a very secular postmodern society where we are pelted with information and therefore have a deficiency of placing terrorist events into their historical setting. Then again, Lutz and Lutz (2008) argues that we all live in a post-modern times characterized with chaos and where our own existence contradicts rational thoughts. Due to this, we fail to make judgment of the real risks connected to tourism. This therefore brings about a new form of experience for travelers with which there exists a positive element associated with risk where the tourists possess the excitement of ‘threat’ from terrorism. Impact of Terrorism on Tourism Economic Factors Greg and Naomi suggest that the impacts of terrorism always results to occurrences of political instability. This in turn causes government of other states to issue travel advisories to their citizens on travelling to such nations (Lee, Oh and O’Leary, 2005). This leads to the drop in the number of tourists travelling to those destinations. From various literatures and statistics, they confirm that any occurrence of a terrorist attack, the immediate industry that is affected is the tourism industry by affecting its patterns (Lee, Oh and O’Leary, 2005). This raises the concerns of cancelling travel as well as holiday plans. For example, after the 9/11 attacks, very many tourists destined to the US cancelled their travel plans for the fear they had for terrorism (Yuan, 2005). In another case in Spain, the number of tourists reduced by about 140,000 following the terrorist attacks. Additionally, in 1985, the number of Americans that were estimated to visit Europe was about 6 million, whereas the number estimated to visit in 1986 was about 7million. Due to the terrorist activities during that time, 54 percent of the tourists cancelled their reservations. This clearly indicated the effects of terrorism on the tourism economy (Kingsbury and Bruun, 2004). These terror attacks have an immediate impact on the worldwide travel. These attacks induce substitution away from the air travel and also causes a shift in preference of travelers for a specific destinations (Lee, Oh and O’Leary, 2005). Nations affected by terror attacks experience a drop in the number of international arrival visitors, especially from those from overseas. For example, after the 9/11 attacks, there was an immediate reduction in the number of international visitors. This is because it showed the widespread concerns about the safety that comes with international air travel. Economic factors also played a role in minimizing travels to the US after the 9/11 attacks. For instance, between the years 2001 and 2002 there was a recession that occurred in the global economy which significantly reduced the rate of air travel (Yuan, 2005). Furthermore, terrorist has the capability of imposing costs on targeted countries through a number of revenues. These terror activities have consequences by diverting foreign direct investments of companies in nations that are hard hit by terrorism (Lee, Oh and O’Leary, 2005). In addition, it causes destruction to infrastructure, redirecting public investments to issues of security and limited trading. Once a nation losses its FDI, it faces a reduction of economic growth. If foreign companies fail to invest in the terror struck nations, the number of tourists reduce significantly (Lee, Oh and O’Leary, 2005). Impact of Terrorism on Tourism Socio-cultural Factors Various studies have been conducted and that propose logical socio-economical as well as cultural explanations that exist in the terrorism-tourism relationship (Baker, 2014). For example, in a study conducted in Egypt, Lutz and Lutz (2008) argues that misconception that arise suggesting that Islam is strongly against foreign tourists consummate with his socio-economic rationalization. He argues that, the aspects that separate foreign tourists from the local people is both their social and economic gaps. In addition, he adds that language also is a cause of this separation. When locals within a nation are involuntary demanded to coexist with foreign tourists, there develops frictions between themselves. This increases tendency of tourists most at times being the primary targets for terrorists (Baker, 2014). In addition, travel styles can be a demonstrative of ideological values, class behaviour as well as the political culture of tourists and their nationalities (Metherell and Banham, 2005). This clearly makes the tourists key targets for terrorists since their tourism styles may show conspicuous consumption. Furthermore, due to terrorist attacks in a nation, the number of international tourists reduce (Kingsbury and Bruun, 2004). This leads to a reduction of job opportunities for the local population and also others end up losing their jobs. As a result, the culture of the nation is not effectively spread to the public. This discourages the spread of cultures all over the world leading to their decline (Metherell and Banham, 2005). Additionally, terrorism events discourages social activities between the parties involved. This is due to the segregation that occurs between the cultures of the parties that committed the terror attacks and those that are affected. For example, after the 9/11 attacks, the Islam community as a whole were separated from the entire population due to the threats associated with their culture (Yuan, 2005). This significantly reduced the social bond that associated the both parties to each other. Even though the act was not committed by the whole Islam community, they were greatly feared by the general public, thus discouraging the social aspect amongst the people (Lutz and Lutz, 2008). This in turn brought about heavy security all over the borders. International tourists that were affiliated with the Islam culture were denied off privileges regarding travel (Metherell and Banham, 2005). This reduced the number of Islamic tourists all over the world and especially gaining entry into the United States. This discouraged the socialism between people all over the world. In addition, other countries might discourage their citizens from travelling to the terror afflicted countries by issuing travel advisories against travelling to those countries due to their safety. This may slow down the economy of the afflicted country (Lutz and Lutz, 2008). Future Impact of these Issues on International Tourism Over the next 10 years, the impacts of terrorism on international tourism will bring about an increase in security within the international borders (Whittaker, 2003). This will ensure that top-notch security equipment is installed to identify any form terrorism. This will be able to encourage the movement of international tourists to their destinations of choice. This is due to the safety measure the tourists receive eliminating the aspect of fear therefore encouraging their movement. In addition, due to these issues, governments might come together to form an inter-governmental organization whose intention is to fight terrorism all over the world (Kingsbury and Bruun, 2004). On the other hand, the number of international tourists may significantly reduce as a result of the decrease of the disposable income of the people due to economic turmoil caused by terrorism as well as fear of terror attacks (Whittaker, 2003). Conclusion In conclusion, international tourism is considered a global and commercial organization where international visitors travel all over the world for pleasure. It therefore promotes the economic as well as the socio-cultural sustainability within the tourist destinations. International tourism brings about economic growth within the tourist destinations by creating job opportunities to the local population. In addition, the local populace within the tourist destinations promote the flow of culture by educating the international tourists of their existing cultures. On the other hand, threats posed on international tourism essentially comes from terrorist activities. Terrorism involves the cause of both social and economic unrest to both tourists and local people through force and intimidation. Terrorism and tourism are closely interrelated to each other. This is because of their similarities in boarder to boarder movement, the involvement of different people originating from different cultures and nations and also the utilization of travel as well as communication technologies. In addition, terrorism has the capability to instill fear to international tourism as well as intimidate them. The correlation between tourism and terrorism is undeniable due to the ability of the industry to be prone to terrorist attacks. Furthermore, since we live in a post-modern era, we are exposed to very many risks associated with terrorism. Terrorism also affects the economy with regard with tourism. It leads to the reduction in the number of tourists visiting the tourist destinations since their governments issue travel advisories against travelling. In addition, it leads to loss of jobs of the locals. It also results in imposing of costs on targeted countries through various revenues. This is by reversing foreign direct investments to nations affected by terrorism. Then again, it also leads to socio-cultural effects. This is by causing segregation between people of different cultures and ethnicities. In addition, it causes a reduction in the social bond between people discouraging the spread of cultures within the nations. References Baker, D 2014, "The Effects of Terrorism on the Travel and Tourism Industry", International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage, Vol. 2: Iss. 1, p. 58-66. Goldblatt, J & Hu, C 2005, Tourism, terrorism, and the new World for Event Leaders, E-review of tourism Research, 3(6), p. 139-144. Horgan, J 2005, The psychology of terrorism, London, Routledge. Kingsbury, P.T & Brunn SD 2004, Freud, tourism and terror: traversing the fantasies of post- September 11 travel magazines, Journal of Tourism and Travel Marketing, 15(2–3), p. 39–61. Korstanje, M. E & Clayton, A 2012, Tourism and terrorism: conflicts and commonalities. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 4(1), p. 8-25. Lee, S.K., Oh, C. & O’Leary, J 2005, Estimating the Impact of the September 11 Terrorist Attacks on the US Air Transport Demand Using Intervention Analysis, Tourism Analysis, 9(4), p. 355-361. Lutz, J.M & Lutz, B 2008, Global Terrorism, Oxford, Oxford University Press. Metherell, M & Banham, C 9th July 2005, Security clampdown for Australian buses and trains, The Sydney Morning Herald, p. 16. Whittaker, D 2003, The Terrorism Reader, Oxford, Oxford Press. Yuan, M2005, After September 11: determining its Impacts on Rural Canadians travel to US, E-review of tourism Research, 3(5), 103-108. Read More