Effects of Terrorism in Tourism
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Suffice it to say, terrorism has had a grand effect upon tourism in various parts of the world. Asia is of course no exception from the horrid sickle of terrorism. It could not be argued how great the impact of terrorism has had on the world at large. You can search online and see that various term papers, essays, and articles about terrorism and tourism.
We all remember 2001 when the world watched in horror as two planes lodged themselves inside the twin towers that led to its collapsed. This has caused the world to panic. “How can a powerful country like America fall victim to this act? Are we next in line?”
And they were right. Terrorism has grown so popular that it became a global problem, a global pestilence of utter malevolence. I cannot say that terrorism has been contributory to the global economic depression we are experiencing right now, but I am sure that during the year 2000, before the global spread of terrorism, tourism brought $476 billion in revenue according to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Not only that, the World Trade Center alone, the one destroyed in 9/11, is a $3.6 trillion industry on itself. Surely one can surmise that this had an echo effect on the rest of the world’s economy.
Tourism as a Money Earner
Tourism has been the backbone of a lot of countries even before terrorism became a global problem. It has always been that tourism has been a way to gain foreign exchange and to patch some deficit in the budget. Tourism, since the year 2000, has garnered almost as high as $5 trillion globally.
Just think of all the business that airlines, hotels, restaurants, and even other parts of the hospitality industry has been affected due to terrorism and the lingering fear it has produced in the hearts of people.
Stock values have gone down, airline ticket sales crashed significantly, of course the hotel and restaurants were not spared with the economic downturn. The problem with tourism is that this industry rests solely on security. If possible tourists are threatened with bodily harm or death, then they will never fly or even sail to your country, no matter how great the tourists destinations are.
Tourist adaptation
There is this 1986 article in the New York Times that discussed how tourists are the least adaptable of all people. Sure, they can choose to charter their vacation to a safer destination, but they probably would just stay home because of all the work involved.
For example, if the Smith family has been going on an annual vacation to this recently, heavily terrorized place, they can still go vacationing on another country or place that is safer. The problem is that they have to check transportation, lodging, food, and a dozen more tourist concerns. The end result is that instead of going to Jamaica or Paris, they would just stay at home because of all the work and the hassle of going through all the motions of scouting a place up again.
The future of tourism
The perennial problem with terrorism is that it is as unpredictable as a hurricane. We cannot predict when or where the terrorists will attack next. The future of tourism today is picking up because people are much more cautious of terrorism. Check points are stricter in a lot of places, and airlines are now using the best, hi-tech detectors to keep the bad guys out.
Tourism is looking good again even with the shortages of hotel and hospitality employees. The industry has gone up almost 5% in 2006 and is projected to even go up in the near future to create almost 9% of total jobs in the world.
Just as after every cloud has a silver lining. Just as after every storm there is a rainbow. The economic depression will also pave a way for the strong to survive and forge an ever stronger economy. Tourism will flourish again. As of now, all we need to do is send good thoughts to our leaders, so that they can lead us better. All of us want to be better, and we will be.
Image Credit Flickr.com
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Australian Chef- Matthew J. Goudge is the mastermind behind the formation of the ProChef360 platform.
I have to agree that of coarse terrorism will have a great impact on the travel industry, and it not just in certain countries but it has become a global problem, I know for myself I would travel to certain places in the world just for this reason alone. Once this crisis has become less of a problem I know that tourism will start to become popular once again, but right now we are experiencing another problem than terrorism but the financial crunch that is putting a halt on people traveling overseas, but once this starts to settle we will indeed see a change again with people visiting other countries and experiencing different cultures.
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