Terrorism, tourism and the media.
Author: Charlotte Seddon
1 Commentries
Today people travel on a much larger scale as domestic and international travel has increased meaning a large percentage of each country is made up of tourists. This means everyone becomes vulnerable to terrorism; we all can be defined as being a tourist at some point in our lives whether we are partaking in domestic or international travel. Security concerns globally mean people have become much more aware of threats in countries, through multi-media formats, whether correctly reported or not. Terrorism, tourism and the media all play their part, using each other to fuel fear into audiences.
Terrorism is hard to define because unlike other terms everyone has a different opinion as to what they would determine as terrorism, it is constantly changing and events that unfold manipulate the definition. It seems that the most widely accepted terms are those that define the terms as political; it is all about power, the pursuit of power and its use to get change, using violence as a pursuit of a political aim. Terrorism targets human life, exploiting violence and using intimidation as a base to fuel their need for change, grown in an antidemocratic environment.
There is an uncertainty of safety in any place we visit whether this is internationally or domestically. With this in mind it is interesting to understand why some tourists feel a stronger sense of fear than others. It could be argued that the culture in which you live amongst effects your choice of tourist destination when taking into account a threat of terrorism. Cultures that live amongst political unrest and are frequently bombarded with terrorist attacks within their country are much more open to traveling to socially deemed ‘unsafe’ destinations as the perceived threat to them is not unknown. South Africa is known internationally as a country with political instability and a weak economy; however they have a high number of domestic tourism patterns with two thirds of the country taking part in some form of domestic travel. (Boniface, 2012)
The media could have played a very influential role in the differences in reactions between cultures. Hall (2002) looks into the role of the media after the 9/11 attacks in the United States of America (USA) and their travel behaviour. He suggests that when media attention ceases so does political support and fear in the public. Within South Africa the media coverage of political instability and the threat of terrorism can be seen as low in comparison to the USA. The media have used the terrorist attack to increase fear in order to sell media products. In this case the media holds all the knowledge and there for all the power, with any sign of a decrease in public interest the media reinvents it’s self in order to carry on producing political support. community. Your decisions mirror your experience and your attitude when having to deal with the uncertain, your levels of social class affects your tourism consumption and in turn your maturity when perceiving terrorist threats. Someone who is educated to a higher level is more likely to question the media’s portrayal of terrorist attacks and have a better understanding of political unrest.
It can be seen that your culture and up bringing can effect a tourist reaction to terrorism, with this being the case it becomes possible that smaller sub cultures can also effect tourist destination choice; elements such as class, education and age. Liu (2006) found that positive attitudes toward tourism are related to residents with high income, higher education levels, and high social status in the local
Usually after any form of terror attack the perception of a destination is affected negatively for a long period of time. Fazlur - Rahman (2011) supports this view he states the terrorism, political instability and violence are among the most important factors influencing the flow of tourists. He found that after violent events within Chitral, Pakistan there was a strong correlation between the lack of tourist flow and the uncertainty of safety within the country. He also found that the media had produced an imaginative image of North Pakistan within the minds of tourists, making them see the country as being violent and dangerous, promoting a sense of insecurity and a culture of fear in possible tourists. This has meant tourism growth is almost impossible causing a decline in the economy and an unnecessary induced fear.
Tourism is a very important source of revenue for many countries across the world, the impact of terrorism can be enormous on the destination as terror attacks cause it to become branded unsafe. Our culture has a very influential part to play in this and our ability to deal with the uncertainty. Today we have become a society that does understand what is happening and what we perceive to be happening and this is because of the availability of the media and its influence on our lives, determining the information we are given. It can be argued that our exposure to the media is one of the main fuelling causes of terrorism, its exposure to millions of people mean terrorists messages are seen throughout the world. It seems that we are constantly trying to deal with the consequences of terrorism when we should be dealing with the act of terrorism itself, as a society if we weren’t so easily manipulated by the heightened fabricated threat of terrorism it would not have such a profound impact on the world without the media platform.
References
Hall, C. (2002) ‘Travel safety, terrorism and the media; the significance of the issue attention cycle’, Current Issues in Tourism, 5, 5, pp. 458-466.
Fazlur-rahman. Holdschlag, A. (2011) ‘War, terror and tourism; impact of violent events on international tourism in Chitral, Pakistan’, Tourism (Zagreb), vol. 59, no. 4, pp. 465-479.
Freyer, W. Schroder, A. (2007) ‘Tourism and terrorism: an analytical framework with special focus on the media’ Crisis management in Tourism, p.129-141.
Terrorism is hard to define because unlike other terms everyone has a different opinion as to what they would determine as terrorism, it is constantly changing and events that unfold manipulate the definition. It seems that the most widely accepted terms are those that define the terms as political; it is all about power, the pursuit of power and its use to get change, using violence as a pursuit of a political aim. Terrorism targets human life, exploiting violence and using intimidation as a base to fuel their need for change, grown in an antidemocratic environment.
There is an uncertainty of safety in any place we visit whether this is internationally or domestically. With this in mind it is interesting to understand why some tourists feel a stronger sense of fear than others. It could be argued that the culture in which you live amongst effects your choice of tourist destination when taking into account a threat of terrorism. Cultures that live amongst political unrest and are frequently bombarded with terrorist attacks within their country are much more open to traveling to socially deemed ‘unsafe’ destinations as the perceived threat to them is not unknown. South Africa is known internationally as a country with political instability and a weak economy; however they have a high number of domestic tourism patterns with two thirds of the country taking part in some form of domestic travel. (Boniface, 2012)
The media could have played a very influential role in the differences in reactions between cultures. Hall (2002) looks into the role of the media after the 9/11 attacks in the United States of America (USA) and their travel behaviour. He suggests that when media attention ceases so does political support and fear in the public. Within South Africa the media coverage of political instability and the threat of terrorism can be seen as low in comparison to the USA. The media have used the terrorist attack to increase fear in order to sell media products. In this case the media holds all the knowledge and there for all the power, with any sign of a decrease in public interest the media reinvents it’s self in order to carry on producing political support. community. Your decisions mirror your experience and your attitude when having to deal with the uncertain, your levels of social class affects your tourism consumption and in turn your maturity when perceiving terrorist threats. Someone who is educated to a higher level is more likely to question the media’s portrayal of terrorist attacks and have a better understanding of political unrest.
It can be seen that your culture and up bringing can effect a tourist reaction to terrorism, with this being the case it becomes possible that smaller sub cultures can also effect tourist destination choice; elements such as class, education and age. Liu (2006) found that positive attitudes toward tourism are related to residents with high income, higher education levels, and high social status in the local
Usually after any form of terror attack the perception of a destination is affected negatively for a long period of time. Fazlur - Rahman (2011) supports this view he states the terrorism, political instability and violence are among the most important factors influencing the flow of tourists. He found that after violent events within Chitral, Pakistan there was a strong correlation between the lack of tourist flow and the uncertainty of safety within the country. He also found that the media had produced an imaginative image of North Pakistan within the minds of tourists, making them see the country as being violent and dangerous, promoting a sense of insecurity and a culture of fear in possible tourists. This has meant tourism growth is almost impossible causing a decline in the economy and an unnecessary induced fear.
Tourism is a very important source of revenue for many countries across the world, the impact of terrorism can be enormous on the destination as terror attacks cause it to become branded unsafe. Our culture has a very influential part to play in this and our ability to deal with the uncertainty. Today we have become a society that does understand what is happening and what we perceive to be happening and this is because of the availability of the media and its influence on our lives, determining the information we are given. It can be argued that our exposure to the media is one of the main fuelling causes of terrorism, its exposure to millions of people mean terrorists messages are seen throughout the world. It seems that we are constantly trying to deal with the consequences of terrorism when we should be dealing with the act of terrorism itself, as a society if we weren’t so easily manipulated by the heightened fabricated threat of terrorism it would not have such a profound impact on the world without the media platform.
References
Hall, C. (2002) ‘Travel safety, terrorism and the media; the significance of the issue attention cycle’, Current Issues in Tourism, 5, 5, pp. 458-466.
Fazlur-rahman. Holdschlag, A. (2011) ‘War, terror and tourism; impact of violent events on international tourism in Chitral, Pakistan’, Tourism (Zagreb), vol. 59, no. 4, pp. 465-479.
Freyer, W. Schroder, A. (2007) ‘Tourism and terrorism: an analytical framework with special focus on the media’ Crisis management in Tourism, p.129-141.