Yes

by Fred Tolleson

Created on: August 25, 2007   Last Updated: February 07, 2010

Muslim extremism has damaged world tourism, but not irrevocably. All you have to do is look at the statistics for long term world travel on our cruise liners to know that the number of tourists is improving. And the longer the voyage, the better. Do you know that 60-75 day world wide tours on cruise liners run from $50,000 to $75,000 per person and normally, you must book your passage at least a year in advance to get a room? That statistic alone doesn't seem to justify the statements about the improvement in the number of tourists but I think is one of the strongest indicators in the statistical realm.

The destination of all cruise liners has been changed time and again to keep out of the areas most focused on by terrorists of any kind, but in particular any of the known Muslim areas. There were many preferred ports in the middle east 10-15 years ago and almost all have been dropped as ports of call by the cruise industry. Similarly, those ports throughout the world that have known affiliations with the Muslims have either been severely limited or dropped altogether.

The churches of the world used to sponsor annual trips, particularly in the fall and winter to Israel and that area of the world to match up with the holy days of Ramadan, our Christmas season, and similar days of feasting in those areas - most of that is now gone. Seldom do you see church tours going to those areas. Most recently I saw an offering out of Chicago for a tour to Sweden and that area instead of the middle east, as they did for years and years. The pastor of my church, led a group of 40 persons to the Holy Land for a tour of religious spots. Shortly after returning home, the group was surprised to read that a similar group was harassed by a group of terrorists. Shortly after that the tour was no longer available.

Specifically, has Muslims scared persons from going to specific areas of the world. The answer to that has to be "YES". A friend of mine was a consultant to a large group of hospitals in the eastern Europe, and Russia area. He barely got out of the area a few years ago when it was taken over by Muslim extremists and has not returned. He has no plans to return.

You hear stories thru the media about people being slaughtered for reasons of belief, belonging to a particular tribe, or whatever. Does this encourage tourism? I don't think so! In fact, it may take 50-75 years of peace in the area before anyone is convinced it is safe to return to those areas.

If you look at the millions of people who have fled their homeland and gone to a camp of some sort to wait out the terrorists antics, you have a better understanding of the damage done by terrorists. In Africa alone there are an estimated 10-15 million people living in areas other than their native lands because of the problems they encountered. Go back to the 1950's and remember what the Mau-Mau gangs did in central Africa to terrorize the farmers and folk of those countries - primarily this occurred in Rhodesia, but spread to other countries. Idi Amin came along and slaughtered an entire tribe of his own people, simply because they were not in his tribe. Think of the many many people killed by Saddam Hussein over his years of ruling Iraq. In South America several American companies had executives kidnapped for the money involved in ransoming them back to their families. In the Philippines today, the Muslim extremists kill and capture for the slightest of reasons - simply because they can. Many countries have lost citizens to these extremists and the end is not in sight for that group.

Will this be the permanent way tourism reacts to Muslims - probably not. I can recall seeing several advertisements for travel to the mid-east in years gone by. We will probably see them again as this area of the world returns to some state of normalcy and the terrible stories subside. I talked to a tourist from a cruise liner last year who went down the Mexican coast to Central America, through the Panama Canal and ended up in Houston after a 11 day cruise. In one port in Central America the government had a gun boat continuously circling the Liner during the port stay and escorted them out to sea. On the dock there were uniformed guards with rifles at the ready that completely surrounded the "safe area" where tourists could go to buy small items. Needless to say he is not booking passage to that country in the near future.

How many of us can remember when Cuba was a highly regarded sate for tourism and the gambling palaces were well attended? Then Castro came down from the hills and closed the doors to Cuba. When he is gone, moderation will ensue and within 5-10 years things will return to where it is safe to travel there.

All of this latter paragraph is to illustrate my point that travel to various countries goes thru change, depending upon circumstance of leadership, political realities and events that we usually don't have too much control over. The word "irrevocably" is to strong a term - we should be thinking in terms of "long term" or a specific term of years or events that can be quantified.

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