by Christine Zibas

Created on: December 06, 2008

Unfortunately terrorist events (whether Islamic extremists in Afghanistan or drug cartels in Colombia or Somali pirates threatening cruise ships in international waters) have damaged tourism. It's natural that people do not want to travel to locations where they prerceive a threat to their safety. Better to spend their tourist dollars in their own home country or in those countries where such actions do not occur.

This is very unfortunate on many counts. First is that terrorist actions have led to the destruction of many historical sites, not only destroying the country's heritage but elminating tourist attractions. In Afghanistan, for example, terrorists blew up giant Buddhist statues that had been in the country for hundreds of years. No extra-governmental body could save them. Now it's a treasure lost to everyone. In Iraq, the national museum was ransacked, and some of the world's ancient artifacts (chronicling the history of Babylon) were lost or sold.

It's also unfortunate because this leads to a loss of tourist dollars to economies like Egypt and Indonesia, which rely heavily on tourist dollars to supplement their gross national product (GNP). After the terrorist bombing in Bali, reservations fell off. It's human nature to avoid areas of problems, particularly those where the tourist feels a loss of control. In countries like Israel, where bombings can occur at random, tourists must weigh heavily their decision to travel there. With the recent attack in Mumbai, India, there are sure to be many cancellations and a big loss of revenue, particularly at those hotels where the attacks were carried out.

Not only do these countries lose tourist income, they also lose something far more important: good will. People who travel the world are people who are exposed to different countries, and are more open minded. When people are forced to avoid a particular culture, like those in Muslim countries, it's natural that someone who hasn't visited will have skewed ideas about what it's like to live in those places. Opening the doors of your country is helping people from the outside see the beauty and goodness of one's own culture, allowing them to understand and bridge cultural differences. Travel brings about understanding between peoples.

Sadly, terrorism is a modern phenomenon that will continue to damage the building of good will between people and ruin the tourism business. And when that happens, everyone loses.

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