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To the question of "Has Muslim extremism damaged world tourism irrevocably?" the answer is a resouning NO! Of course not. Are you not going to visit Scotland because of the one in a million chance of a terrorist attack? What about Japan? Iceland? The weak dollar has foreign travelers flocking to visit the United States. If anything is going to hurt tourism in the future, it's a world wide recession.

First of all, the two airports that seem to stymie the most potential attacks are New York City and London. So if you don't fly anywhere close to these cities, there isn't as much to worry about. Unless Muslim extremism hits every major city in the world, most travelers aren't going to be deterred, especially since most major tourist destinations do not go to countries that are known for being affected by extremism.

There are some countries that are going to be hurt tourism wise. Turkey and Morrocco are two that come to mind. Both nations are primarily Islamic, but both are very open and "liberal" as far as Muslim countries go. Turkey has a strong history of secular culture, to the point where the military has often removed a President who was trying to steer the country to a more religiously strict government.

Morrocco is ruled by a king, and many people don't know that the Kingdom of Morrocco was actually the first nation to recognize the United States' claim for independence. Morrocco is known for having an art culture, as well as a film festival that the king himself judges. Morrocco is very open to tourism, and many parts of this nation are far safer than areas in the United States.

People will always have the itch to travel, so tourism will recover from any dip it has, but countries like Turkey or Morrocco may see a decline that will be hard to bounce back from. This isn't fair, but neither is the world we live in.

As long as the human spirirt has any desire for adventure, or for connecting with other people in a larger world community, travel will be alive and well, and no extremism of any kind can stop that kind of natural desire. As long as yearning to see new horizions exists, there will always be a market for travel.

Learn more about this author, Shane Dayton.
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