Tourist Destinations

The world is a constantly changing place, and the ’issues’ that affect travel and tourism change from one place to the next, and from one day to the next. The 9/11 al-Qaeda attack in 2001, for example, was one such event, or the tsunami in South East Asia 2004 The increasing number of acts of terrorism, such and those in New York, Bali, Madrid, Egypt and London – and the constant fear in many other areas worldwide. Terrorism is recognised as global evil and the use of extreme violence generates fear in individuals and thus manipulates their behaviour and makes the individuals fearing for their live and avoiding ways of possible feelings of paranoia or intimidation from visiting the above destinations.

But it is not just what humanity will do to itself that is a threat to travel and tourism – it is also the spread of diseases, such as SARS and avian flu, and how this threat affects people’s attitudes to travel . International relations have a positive or negative effect on travel and tourism. Wars have an immediate adverse effect, and may limit tourism in an area for decades – as has happened in the Middle East. Political stability can only help the flow of tourists – as shown by the growing numbers of travellers who have chosen to holiday in America or Australia over the last few decades. Many people in the world’s less developed countries (LDCs) are often dependent on tourism for their livelihoods, so anything that affects the industry can have dramatic effect on them.