One World, One Dream, and One Human Race; it is Terrorism that we Face!

Abstract:
This paper will critically explore terrorism and the links that it has with the tourism industry. It will discuss the impacts that terrorism inflicts on the business of tourism and tourists. Within this paper, perceptions of tourists of the risk of terrorism will be explored as this thus contributes to the tourism experience in the 21st century. Terrorism is something that the industry will continue to face and as a result, the perceived risk that tourists become accustomed to travelling will remain. This paper takes an unusual turn as it suggests positive impacts of terrorism on nations and communities that have suffered from terrorism attacks.

Keywords: Terrorism, Perceptions, international Security, Risk, Tourism, Positive.

Those that take it upon themselves to make clear their thoughts through conflicting violent on innocent people are merely a small selection of the world's population. There are conflicting definitions of terrorism but it can be defined as a politically motivated attack of violence with the use of numerous means used to carry out the act of terror (Sloboda, 2003). Terrorism poses risks to the international community and the industry, it has been increasingly threatened by terrorism in the 21st century, it is thus a risk to law and order due to its sheer size, diversity and extent of the industry itself (Arana and Leon, 2008; Henderson,2007).

Tourism provides an ideal opportunity for terrorism organisations to exploit for maximum devastation of the international community and the locals. Terrorism influences tourism in two major ways firstly, it can damage demand for a destination as it creates an impression that it is no longer safe. Secondly, the facilities that the industry uses for transportation like aircraft, trains, cruise ships and coaches are used as targets for maximum effect. These therefore are susceptible to bomb threats and hijackings (Frey et al, 2007). Even acts of terrorism that are not directed at the tourism industry still indeed, effect the tourism industry and destination selection of potential tourists to a certain area (Moss et al, 2008; Henderson, 2007). "Terrorism has evolved into a major global concern for the tourism industry" (Mansfeld and Pizam, 2006:28).

Terrorism can have lasting effects on the destination image, tourists to the area and local infrastructure. Tourists are often put off in the short/long term from travelling to destinations that have been targeted by acts of terrorism, but remains fairly situational. In the case of 9/11 (Twin towers-USA), 7/05 (Transport network-London 2005), Bail night club 2002 and a number of events in Egypt and Turkey, have all seen changes in tourism behaviours as a result of the acts of terror where the tourism industry has suffered (Lee and Lemyre, 2009; Cooper, 2008; Toh et al, 2008; Frey et al, 2007; Reisinger and Mavondo, 2006; Sonmez et al, 1999).

It recognised that the act of terrorism on the tourism industry in general, has a number of negative impacts on the industry which are of an economic, social and political nature (Frey et al, 2007; Mansfeld and Pizam, 2006). It is established that an act of terror can influence tourist behaviours through destination selection as a result of perceived risks which are thus partly characterised by destination image (Sonmez et al, 1999; Vazquez et al, 2008).

Along with the negative impacts of terrorism on tourism, there are some positive aspects of it. Acts of terror brings nations closer together to help tackle the global problem of terrorism. After a number of attempted and actual terror attacks aimed at USA have increased ties between the United States and Europe (Vazquez et al, 2008). Although it is established that acts of terror can destroy communities through creating unfortunate deaths, damaging infrastructure and causing physiological problems, there are some positive impacts. Terrorism can bring communities together and the public are then able to aid efforts as they will be on alert to look for suspicious activity. Communities are also able to pull together to create support for each other to deal with the loss of life and disruption that will be inflicted on them as a result of an act of terror on a community (Mansfeld and Pizam, 2006; Coshall, 2003). In the case of the London subway bombings in 2005, members of the community pulled together to help those that were majorly influenced by the terror attack by helping them come to terms with what had actually happened (Mansfeld and Pizam, 2006; Vazquez et al, 2008).

In summation, the tourism industry continues to be vulnerable to future acts of terrorism directly or indirectly related to the business of tourism. Today's tourism industry is clearly influenced by terrorism which can have devastating effects on the tourist and the actual destination itself. Even terror attacks that are not directed at the tourism industry still do impact on the business of tourism through perceptions. The threat of anything life threatening can happen at anytime and anywhere, tourists should not let acts of terrorism influence travel plans or indeed, future travel plans. This paper has thus outlined that although terrorism can damage a destination, infrastructure and local communities, it can also help bring nations together for a united fight again global terrorism and the imminent threat of terrorism.
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References:
Arana, E. J and Leon, J. C (2008) The impact of terrorism on tourism demand. Annals of tourism research. 35 (2), pp 299-315.

Cooper, C (2008) Tourism: principles and practice. Harlow: Pearson Education.

Coshall, T, J (2003) The threat of terrorism as an intervention on international travel flows. Journal of Travel Research. 42, pp 4-12.

Frey. S. B, Luechinger, S and Stutzer, A (2007) Calculating Tragedy: Assessing the Cost of Terrorism. Journal of Economic Surveys. 21(1),pp 1-24.

Henderson, C .J (2007) Tourism Crises: Causes, consequences and management. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Lee.C.E, J and Lemyre, L. (2009) A Social- Cognitive Perspective of Terrorism Risk Perception and Individual Response in Canada, Society for Risk Analysis, 29 (9), pp 1260-1280.

Mansfeld, Y and Pizam, A (2006) Tourism, security and safety; from theory to practice. The management of hospitality and tourism enterprises series. Oxford: Butterworth -Heinemann.

Moss. S, Ryan, C and Moss, J (2008) The life cycle of a terrorism crisis: Impacts on Tourism travel. Tourism Analysis. 13, pp 33-41.

Reisinger, Y and Mavondo, F (2006) Cultural consequences on traveller risk perception and safety. Tourism Analysis. 11, pp 265-284.

Sloboda, W. B (2003) Assessing the effects of terrorism on tourism by use of time series methods. Journal of Tourism Economics. 9 (2), pp 179-190.

Sonmez. F. S, Apostolopoulos, Y and Tarlow, P (1999) Tourism in Crisis: Managing the effects of terrorism. Journal of Travel research. 38, pp 13-18.

Toh, S. R, Khan, H and Erawan, S (2008) Bomb blasts in Bali: impact on tourism. Tourism Analysis. 9,pp 219-224.

Vazquez, C, Sales, P.P and Hervas, G. (2008) Positive effects of terrorism. Positive effects of terrorism and posttraumatic growth: and individual and community perspective. [online] [accessed 20/04/2010] Available via: < http://www.ucm.es/info/psisalud/carmelo/PUBLICACIONES_pdf/2008-PTG%20and%20terrorism%20_Final%20version_.pdf >.

I chose to answer on this paper as I'm rather fascinated by the effects terrorism has had and is causing on the tourism industry. I found this conference paper interesting to read and it screamed me to comment on it.

First of all as you have pointed out the tourism industry is a seductive target for terrorism, not least by its sheer vulnerability. As you mentioned terrorists do not have to even directly target the tourists themselves to have an impact on the image of the destination. In many cases tourists actually are so called "soft targets" who just happen to be on the wrong place at the wrong time. The fact that can't be overlooked in the relationship between terrorism and tourism is the power of media in the cases of terrorism, would we even have a clue about the terrorist attacks in the remote places of earth without the mass media. Therefore I have to emphasize the importance of the media in the aftermath of the terror attacks. Naturally the image created by the media plays an important role in the survival of the destinations.

The reason for pointing out the power of media in the relationship between terrorism and tourism is that the terrorism has not just changed how the destinations should deal with the possible danger, but it also has enforced destinations to comply an effective plan on how to use media to help re-create the image after the tragic events.

You mentioned about the effects terrorism have on tourism destinations image. Which indeed are quite drastic after the attack. As have been examined in research the destination will have to cope up with the effects for six to nine months after the attack, although the effects don't necessarily start right after the attack, but actually could start to have an effect even three months after the tragedy. Researchers have explained this by the fact that surprisingly not that many are actually willing to change their already paid and arranged travel plans if they aren't at imminent danger. The point that I missed from your paper was the importance of the frequency of the attacks. It has been researched that the severity of the attack does not play as important role as the frequency of the attacks. In fact quite often destinations that have faced a extremely severe attack can and will revive to the situation after the attacks in less than a years time where as destinations that have to cope with frequent but significantly less severe attacks actually are more vulnerable on severe reductions on tourist arrivals.

Although I agree that the only positive side of terrorism is that it actually might have a positive impact on the national level relationships of Northern America and Europe, there are quite many negative sides on the way the relationships have developed. First of all in the aftermath of the 9/11 US and parts of Europe indeed pulled the same rope in order to face the new eminent danger of terrorism. But unfortunately the new break in the relationship led in to a full-scale war in Iraq, which was justified by the terrorism.
What comes to the positive impacts to the local communities, I again have to argue against. I understand that the cohesion in the communities will most likely be improved against the imminent threat but the cohesion does not always stay within the sensible limits. There are quite clear implications on increased xenophobia in the western societies after the increased threat of terrorism. The increased xenophobia within the communities could be seen especially in the ongoing fear of Islam. As Sivanandan (2006 pp. 2) states "the war on asylum and the war on terror - have converged to produce a racism which cannot tell a settler from an immigrant, an immigrant from an asylum seeker, an asylum seeker from a Muslim, a Muslim from a terrorist. We are, all of us Blacks and Asians, at &#64257;rst sight, terrorists or illegals. We wear our passports on our faces or, lacking them, we are faceless." In worst case scenario the xenophobia inside communities can eventually lead into a full scale riots between the "outsiders" and the "locals". Therefore I find I quite naïve to even consider that terrorism could be seen as a positive impact for the cohesion of the local communities.


Bibliography



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Pizam, A, Smith (2000) Tourism and terrorism: a quantitative analysis of major terrorist acts and their impact on tourism destinations, Tourism Economics, 6;2

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Sivanandan, A (2006) Race, terror and civil society, Race Class, 47; 1

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Comment:
The article was extremely stimulating for everyone who is interested in tourism and issues such as terrorism in relation to this field. This paper clearly outlined issues regarding tourism and terrorism; it also introduced some positives aspects arising from the terrorist attacks.

The paper showed that there is a significant problem in defining the term tourism in a precise way. Additionally it can be added that Takeyh (2002 in Smelser et al, 2002) in the survey conducted revealed 109 various definitions of this phenomenon. The summary also provided the reader with information when the terrorism started to be an issue for the tourism industry and tourists itself however the author could go more in depth and indicate the precise time frame of terrorism on tourism arising, not only the century when the problem occurred. Küçükaltan (2006) mentions that 1980`s were the period when the terrorists started to use tourists and tourism industry as their target.

The second paragraph which describes two major influences on the tourism industry was a very fascinating part of this work. The author of this summary approached this subject from a very interesting side. The paper showed direct and indirect consequences of terrorism attacks on the tourism industry and also on the businesses sectors which are closely related and at the same time dependant from the current situation of this leisure industry.

In terms of the negative influences that terrorism has on the tourism industry and the tourist themselves it can be stated that the author of this paper introduced a clear link between those two phenomenons, however factors that impact on tourism could be expanded in a wider sense. A few case studies of bombings in Bali, the attacks which occured in New York and London have been mentioned and a statement has been brought forward that as a consequence of terrorist attacks the tourists behaviour has been changed, moreover the author stated that because of the attacks on London, the tourism industry in the UK suffered, however Cooper et al, (2008) states that London did not suffer severely after bombings moreover this city raise the number of tourists due to vast amount of positive media attention (Cooper et al, 2008).

Besides the negatives the author of this paper also looked at some positive sides of terrorism which was very beneficial for this work as it made it more valuable and interesting, for the reason that most of the studies focus only on the obvious side of terrorism. In regards to the positives influences that terrorism has on tourism, which are mentioned by the author of this summary, Cooper et al, (2008) introduces another major positive, namely that attacks can be beneficial for the tourists as the travel companies and holiday destinations are decreasing their prices in order to attract the tourists to visit their destinations again.

Overall this is a good piece of work, which clearly proved links between tourism and terrorism. The paper demonstrated very interesting points in regards of introducing direct and indirect influences of terrorism on tourism and businesses that are related to this industry. Moreover the work presented a positive side of the terrorism attacks. However some of the points in this paper could be expanded in more depth.


References:
Cooper, C., Fletcher, J., Fyall, A., Gilbert, D. And Wanhill, S. (2008) Tourism principles and practice. 4th ed., London: Prentice Hall.

Küçükaltan, D. (2006) Tourism and Terrorism: An Experience of Turkey and the World. iUniverse.

Smelser, N., Faith, M., National Research Council (U.S) Panel on Behavioural, Social and Institutional Issues and Committee on Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism (2002) Terrorism: perspectives from the behavioural and social science. National Academies Press.

The decision to comment on this paper was made because it is fascinating to see the way in which terrorism is affecting tourism across the world. Terrorism is an issue that has affected the world for a long time and has become increasingly topical in the tourism industry; this is why it is such an important research topic for the tourism industry.

Terrorism has been around for many years but the idea of the threat of terrorist attacks on tourists has become increasingly acknowledged, what I find interesting is the way you have identified positive impacts that terrorism can have on nations. The paper sets the scene by identifying why terrorist groups will target tourists/ tourist's destinations, (Ryan 1993) as you identified terrorists want international recognition and by targeting tourists one terrorist attack could affect many different nations. Terrorism as mentioned can affect the image of the destination that has been targeted which in turn will result in affects on the demand it can also, you mentioned how the tourism infrastructure can be severely damaged and can be very costly to repair. Terrorism on a destination can cost the industry huge amounts of money, the image; infrastructure could be so severely disrupted that the costs of repair will be huge. Many destinations that are targets for terrorism will not have the economic stability to invest money to deal with this.

You very interestingly brought up how terrorism can be seen as positive, however after researching this I have to disagree. Your argument is that terrorism can bring communities and nations (Jenkins 2001) closer together, maybe this is correct but in my opinion it could do quite the opposite. There are many other ways in which communities and nations can be brought together with out the loss of life, without the devastating effects that terrorism has on the economy and infrastructure.

Looking at terrorism from the eyes of the tourist industry I do not see how it can be seen as positive in anyway, devastating effects on the image of a area can take years to overcome as well as costing the economy to rebuild infrastructures and invest in marketing and reimaging. So to suggest that terrorism can in anyway be seen as positive for tourism… I have to disagree.

This paper was well structured and had a good background on the subject; it was a very interesting read and gave food for thought. The issues that were brought up encouraged me to look further into the subject. Terrorism seems to prove as a popular subject within this conference and the idea's brought up in this paper supported that, however it was this particular paper that caught my eye due to the writers take on how terrorism can be seen as positive and even if I didn't agree with the comments made it was intriguing and well written

Ryan, C. (1993). Crime, violence, terrorism and tourism: An accidental or intrinsic relationship? Tourism Management. 14 (3), 173-183 .

Jenkins, B M. (2001). Terrorism and Beyond: a 21st Century Perspective . Studies in Conflict & Terrorism,. 24 (5), 321 - 327 .

This paper shows an open minded approach to discussing terrorism and the implications it causes it thus combines the influences from a critical angle. Vital points have been made about the positive and negative outcomes of terrorism on the tourism industry. It is important to acknowledge the two sided story of terrorism as terrorism is something that the world will continue to face, the treat of an imminent act of terror happening will remain with us. Terrorism has become an increasing threat for the tourism industry in the past decade it has resulted in different outcomes. This commentary doesn't suggest that terrorism is a 'treat' upon us but suggests thought on the influences that terrorism has on the tourism industry.

Terrorism is as old as human civilisation itself, the threat remains but there are less occurrences of it due to new technology and ways used to carry out the acts. Terrorism in the 21st century creates more fatalities than ever before (Pizam and Fleischer, 2002). Terrorism is a form of terrorising someone for example when youth terrorise elderly people or animals but this will not cast them as terrorist because today terrorism is associated with threats and violence that is used to achieve some sort of effect in a political form. It is often a way to overthrow someone else to get their viewpoint across and it does not seem to concern them what they damage along the way to achieve their aims (Horgan, 2005).
It is often disputed that the tourism is a large industry that is increasingly developing and catches the eye of terrorist who are trying to establish their point in the form of violence. Terrorist attacks on tourist are not new but tourists are becoming increasingly targeted by these terrorist attacks (Horner and Swarbrooke, 2004).

The more large scale attacks on tourist can have a serious effect on the industry as it many individuals have an increasing fear to travel due to attacks. As these attacks are often cast upon the transport industry like on planes, trains and buses this can cause an increase in fear of being attacked when using these methods of travel. Also sometimes in various destinations tourist are attacked due to their behaviour which can often agitate individuals to attack tourists and this often puts other travellers from visiting these destinations (Horner and Swarbrooke, 2004).

It is often difficult to perceive terrorism from a positive aspect in tourism but there are some positive outcomes of terrorism for the tourism industry. A perfect example of this is Kashmir who suffers greatly from terrorism attacks on has been facing this ongoing battle for a very long time. Kashmir lacks natural resources and therefore has become very reliant upon tourism as it has proven to be a good source of income for many (Soundararajan, 2006). It has bought many different nations together in fight against terrorism and these stronger bonds have benefited many countries. After the September 11 attacks the tourism industry was affected heavily due to fear of travelling and faced a loss. Although this is hard to grasp they also gained and are continuing to gain because many individuals have travelled to New York to see where this atrocious attack took place. There is also a clear link between terrorism and dark tourism as some of the events and places people travel for dark tourism are associated with terrorism. An example of this is the attacks Hitler implemented on the Jewish people, this was a form of terrorism and now many individuals travel to where this event took place and they also visit the holocaust museums. Therefore in a way terrorism has had some positive and negative effects on the tourism industry (Kerr, 2003). This does not mean to say that terrorism can be excused it is still an awful thing that has no reason for existing as situations can be dealt without violence and threats.

Reference list:
Horgan, J. (2005) The Psychology of Terrorism. London: Routledge.
Horner, S. and Swarbrooke, J. (2004) International Cases in Tourism Management. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Kerr, R.W. (2003) Tourism Public Policy and the Strategic Management of Failure. London: Elsvier.
Pizam, A. and Fleischer, A. (2002) Severity versus frequency of acts of terrorism: Which has a larger impact on tourism demand. Journal of Travel Research, 40, February, pp337-339.
Sounderarajan, R. (2006) Impact of Terrorism on Jammu and Kashmir Tourism. India: Gyan Books.