Terrorism and Tourism: Still Connecting the Dots

Abstract

There is no industry in the world where a crisis caused by terrorism has such a strong impact as in tourism. Providing security for visitors before and during a trip can be a critical success factor for the competitiveness of a particular destination or organization or for business tourism when tourists consider multiple alternatives. Information about political instability, violence, crime or terrorist attacks could cause a substitution effect by tourists. International terrorism and tourism share some characteristics, as both cross national borders, involve citizens from different countries and use the new travel and communications technologies. In recent decades, terrorism organizations have been using tourism targets to gain global visibility. Based on a broad analysis of literature and data, the main goal of this research is to update the work of Seabra (2019) and help to analyse the main connections between terrorism and tourism, specifically by presenting the main terrorist events targeting tourism activity and destinations in the last 35 years and their main consequences for tourism industry.

Citation

Seabra, C. (2023), "Terrorism and Tourism: Still Connecting the Dots", Seabra, C. and Korstanje, M.E. (Ed.) Safety and Tourism (Tourism Security-Safety and Post Conflict Destinations), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 77-101. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80382-811-420231005