As part of their master in Tourism Destination Management study program, the students have written literature reviews in the domain of “International Tourism Context”. In this first of six literature reviews Lin Reimann discusses the influence of terrorist attacks and political instability on tourism.

Introduction

In today’s globalizing environment, terrorism has been an issue we hear of every day in the media, from friends and relatives or at work and school. The National Institute of Justice (2011) defines terrorism as “the use of force – against civilians – intended to influence or instigate a course of action that furthers a political or social goal”. International terrorism is defined likewise yet “involving citizens or the territory of more than one country” (US Department of State (1996), cited by Sönmez (1998)).

With the beginning of a new millennium, the world has faced several socioeconomic and environmental issues while experiencing major growth in population (Sönmez, 1998). In this context, terrorist organizations have recruited desperate individuals by promising better living conditions. (D’Amore and Anunza (1986) cited by Sönmez (1998)). Furthermore, technological developments have facilitated the flow of information (Sönmez, 1998), allowing terrorist organizations to either appeal to or to frighten a wider audience. In highly politicized countries, numerous sectors including tourism suffer under such terrorism and political instability cases (Morakabati, 2012).

Being one of the fastest growing industries, tourism contributes greatly to the economy of a country notably the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) where tourism growth has surpassed the worlds average in the last two decades (Steiner, 2010). Despite the richness of their diverse assets, countries in the Middle East cannot make use of their full potential in the tourism industry because of the political instability and negative international image visitors may have. There has always been a steady growth in tourism yet these periods of prosperity have always been disrupted through “war and/or internal conflicts” (Morakabati, 2012). Terrorism is also observed in other areas of the world such as East Asia and the Pacific. After the Bali bombings of 2002 the foreign tourist arrival numbers dropped by 70 percent leaving the tourism industry having to recover major losses (E-turbo News, 2009).

Through secondary research, this study will highlight the specific consequences political instability and terrorism have had on the tourism industry and present various crisis management strategies for tourism destinations.

Literature Review

Effect of Terrorism on the Tourism Industry

The tourism industry is a fast developing valuable sector in a nation’s economy adding one third of the total world trade in services in the tertiary sector and providing over 200 million employment opportunities worldwide (Stojanovic, 2012). Yet regardless of the strength of tourism’s economy, it is still highly exposed to external events that may present risks to the success of the industry (Prideaux, 2005). Whereas internal events can be measured and managed, external crises present a higher degree of risk and uncertainty. Terrorism and political instabilities such as terrorist attacks and wars are part of these external risks (Evans & Ephick. 2005). Political instability has not been identified to relate to terrorism. Yet the latter can easily arise through political instabilities in countries such as Lebanon or former West Germany (Wieviorka, 1994 cited by Sönmez, 1998). Media coverage of countries that are in a dire political state will discourage tourists from choosing that destination for their travels (Sönmez & Graefe, 1998).

The frequency of terror attacks has increased during the mid-80s and beginning 90s with the Persian Gulf War and the possibility of complementary global terrorism (Sönmez, 1998). The number of international terrorist attacks increased from 332 to 440 in 1995 (US Department of State (1996), cited by Sönmez (1998)).

Middle East

As a result of the Desert Storm Operation in the 90s that recorded 275 terrorist attacks, tourism in the Middle East was severely impaired especially in Egypt in 1995 where tourists were targeted several times such as during the 4/18 incident when three gunmen killed 18 Greek tourists in front of Cairo hotel or the 1/12 incident when members of the terrorist group “Al-Gama’at al Islamiyya” opened fire on 6 passengers on a train. Furthermore in 1993, a German tourist was wounded when gunmen opened fire at a Nile cruise ship. In addition a bomb exploded aboard a passenger train killing 6 foreign individuals and another bomb explosion underneath a tour bus travelling towards the Giza pyramids killed 2 Egyptians and injured 6 British and 3 Syrian tourists (Sönmez & Graefe, 1998). All these incidents depict how dangerous and influential such acts of terrorism can be on the tourism industry. Any tourist would fear to visit Egypt after witnessing these acts of violence in the media. A study by Pizam and Fleischer (2002, quoted by Arana & Leon, 2008) concludes that the regularity of terror acts that take place in a country, affects tourism demand more negatively than the severity of those events. In the case of Egypt, 6 terrorist attacks in a year explain clearly the “sharp drop in tourist arrivals” (Sönmez & Graefe, 1998).

The most recent terrorist uproar in the Middle East occurred during the Arab Spring that began in January 2011 when a street vendor in Tunisia set fire to himself after having his goods confiscated by policemen. This horrible event was the catalyst to a series of events that have turned the Middle East to an internationally viewed battlefield.  This has consequently had a deep impact on the tourism activity in the whole region (Morakbati, 2012). Syria, a very leading tourist destination saw its tourist numbers drop by half during the beginning of the uproar in the country. Egypt suffered an 80% decline of tourist arrivals in February 2011. Even countries that have been avoiding conflicts such as Lebanon saw a drop in their tourist arrivals alone for the fact that they lie close to a country that has been suffering violent unrest (Morakbati, 2012).

Asia

In central Asia, Nepal can be portrayed as an example for a culturally and naturally rich nation with several limitations that hinder the country’s development. The ongoing domestic Maoist war has destroyed the image of the country as a peaceful Buddhist haven (Shrestha, 1989, cited by Bhattarai et. al, 2005). Cambodia is also a country that has suffered political unrest that resulted in terrorist attacks on tourists such as the 7/26 attack of the Khmer Rouge on a train that was travelling in Kompong Trach kidnapping several passengers that included an Australian, a Briton and a Frenchman in 1993. Another incident occurred two years later when a US tourist and a tour guide were killed during another Khmer Rouge attack on a sightseeing convoy (Sönmez & Graefe, 1998).

It can be deduced that terrorism and political instability can greatly influence the tourism industry in a specific country by depicting a less attractive image of the country and thus deter potential tourists (Morakbati, 2012). Yet how can governments and organizations fight against terrorism and shelter the tourism industry from such external crisis accordingly?

Models of Crisis Management

Through the intervention of law enforcement and intelligence gathering, counter-terrorism activities have begun when numerous summit meetings started taking place joining several nations in the joint fight against terrorism. Another example of an anti-terrorism act was when President Clinton signed the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act in 1996. This resulted in the increase of federal government’s powers to fight terrorism (Sönmez, 1998).

Crisis management is a very important tool for companies to reduce risk whether internal or external. According to Evans and Elphick (2005), crisis management involves the “4 Rs”, which depict a 4-stage process of reduction, readiness, response and recovery. Yet implementing these stages is a challenge to managers.

Evans and Elphick (2005) highlight the effects of the September 11th 2001 terrorist act on the twin towers in New York City on UK tour operators. MyTravel, which was formerly known as Airtours, had to lay off 350 employees and acted quickly by cutting costs and the number of holidays on sale. MyTravel started to promote new brands and offered 55 percent discounts on holidays of four weeks.

Some crisis management models include Caplan’s crisis model that views the crisis from a psychological perspective where the individuals’ behavior towards the crisis is studied (Caplan, 1970, cited by Evans and Elphick, 2005). Slatter (1984, cited by Evans and Elphick, 2005) takes a more economic approach to crisis management that suggests the factors that are vulnerable to a crisis in a company. Arnold’s (1980, cited by Evans and Elphick, 2005) sociological perspective suggests looking at how communities react to crisis.

Some actions that are taken by the travel industry to prevent or prepare for crisis may include preparing contingency plans, developing communicational and decisional roles and flow diagrams, patience in making decisions during the aftermath of a crisis, identifying external groups that may intervene during the crisis and implementing a turnaround process, which is also concerned with long term issues (Evans & Elphick, 2005).

Conclusion

In conclusion, terrorist attacks and political instability in a country do affect the tourism industry by frightening potential tourists from visiting the particular destination. The poignant truth is that countries that are culturally and naturally so rich and attractive may not live up to their full potential as a tourist destination because of the political instability and wars raging in these areas. Companies and even governments have been taking precautions in fighting against terrorism attacks by either enforcing stronger laws or developing crisis management strategies for when a crisis takes place. Crisis management strategies are very diverse seeing as each crisis is differs from the other (Evans & Elphick, 2005) yet the travel industry mainly prepares detailed contingency plans, defines decisional and informational roles and responsibilities and retains a degree of flexibility in order to react correctly at al operational level. On one hand there is clearly a discrepancy on crisis management literature focusing on terrorism. With the exception of Evans & Elphick’s study (2005), most crisis management strategies address internal events that can be categorized as risk or crisis. However there is a definite lack of extensive literature on crisis management for terrorism attacks. The tragic truth is that with the easy flow of tourists, terrorism has become a global issue especially since most attacks on tourists occur because the terrorist groups attempt to scar the industry and frighten off the tourists. This link between terrorism and tourism should be researched more extensively. Crisis management strategies may be good theoretical guidelines to tackling the issue however the core of the issue must be further acknowledged. Why are those terrorist groups against tourism in their country? What compromise can be made to prevent terrorist attacks from happening? Is it in the power of the tourism industry to fight the issue of terrorism? Those questions have not been tackled so far but seem to be critical in advancing the knowledge on the subject.

References

Bhattarai, K., Conway, D., Shrestha, N. (2005) Tourism, Terrorism and Turmoil in Nepal. Annals of Tourism Research, 32:3, pp. 669-688.

E-Turbo News. (2009), Indonesia’s tourism feels the impact of Jakarta bombing. Retrieved on 25th Sep, 2012 – http://www.eturbonews.com/10581/indonesias-tourism-feels-impact-jakarta- bombings

Evans, N., Elphick, D. (2005) Models of Crisis Management: an Evaluation of their Value for Strategic Planning in the International Industry. Int. Journal of Tourism Research, 7, 135-150

Morakabati, Y. (2012), Tourism in the Middle East: Conflicts, Crises and Economic Diversification, Some Critical Issues. International Journal of Tourism Research, 10.1002/jtr.1882

National Institute of Justice. (2011), Terrorism. Retrieved September 25th           – http://www.nij.gov/topics/crime/terrorism/welcome.htm

Prideaux, B. (2005) Factors Affecting Bilateral Tourism Flows. Annals of Tourism Research, 32:3, pp.780-801.

Sönmez, S.F. (1998) Tourism, Terrorism and Political Instability. Annals of Tourism Research 25:2, pp. 416-456.

Sönmez, S.F., Graefe, A.R. (1998) Influence of Terrorism Risk on Foreign Tourism Decisions. Annals of Tourism Research 25:1, pp. 112-144.

Steiner, C. (2010), An Overestimated Relationship? Violent Political Unrest and Tourism Foreign Direct Investment in the Middle East. International Journal of Tourism Research. 12, 726-738.

Stojanovic, M., Stojanovic, D., Randelovic, D. (2010). New trends in participation at tourist market under conditions of global economic crisis, pp. 1260-1268