Terrorism and tourism

Abstract

The paper discusses the motives and reasons why tourism is interesting for terrorists, including the effects of terrorist attacks on tourist industry, and the crisis management strategies that some countries have used so as to mitigate the effects of such attacks on tourists, the national economy and country-image. Tourists as innocent symbolic victims and tourism as one of the most important modern industries have become favorite terrorists targets in the aftermath of the Cold War. Terrorist acts have since had a major effect not just on the tourism industry, but also on the overall economic and political positions of affected countries. The author argues that after terrorist attacks of 9/11 it has been difficult to use the old methods and strategies to regain tourist confidence in the affected destinations, pointing it out that each terrorist incident ought to be analyzed in detail so as to achieve a maximum preventative effect. The author concludes that, beside being familiar with the crisis communication theory and possessing practical communication skills, crisis managers should be open-minded and creative in implementing a large scale of communication tools and techniques with a view to recovering an image of stability and safety of tourist destinations affected by terrorist attacks.

U radu se razmatraju motivi odnosno razlozi zbog koji je turizam interesantan za teroriste, prezentiraju se posledice terorističkih napada na turističku privredu i ukazuje na najznačajnije mere iz oblasti kriznog menadžmenta koje su pojedine zemlje koristile u ublažavanju efekata terorističkih napada na turiste, turističke destinacije, nacionalnu ekonomiju i imidž zemlje. Turisti kao nevine simboličke žrtve i turizam kao jedna od najznačajnijih savremenih privrednih grana postali su još pre završetka Hladnog rata meta terorista, a izvršeni teroristički akti imali su značajne posledice ne samo za turističku privredu već i za ekonomski i politički položaj pogođenih zemalja. Autor ocenjuje da je nakon terorističkih napada od 11. septembra 2001. u SAD teško primenjivati stare metode i strategije u vraćanju poverenja turista u turističke destinacije, te da svaki konkretan slučaj zahteva brižljivu analizu i, pored teorijskog poznavanja kriznog komuniciranja i praktičnih komunikacionih veština, inventivnost i kreativnost kriznih menadžera u primeni široke palete komunikacionih alata i tehnika u obnavljanju imidža stabilnosti i bezbednosti turističkih destinacija pogođenih terorističkim aktima.