Tourism, Terrorism and Security

Maximiliano E. Korstanje, Hugues Seraphin, Maximiliano E. Korstanje, Hugues Seraphin, Maximiliano Korstanje, Hugues Séraphin

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781838679064
• eBook ISBN: 9781838679071
• Topic: Betriebswirtschaft
• Subtopic: Gastgewerbe, Reise- & Tourismusbranche

The tourism industry has evolved and maturated over the recent years. Today, tourism is not only a leading industry but also a consolidated commercial activity worldwide. Unfortunately, the turn of the century has accelerated a number of global risks, placing the tourism industry in jeopardy. Scholars adopted an economics-based paradigm, which has focused on the commercial nature of tourism as a benefactor of local economies, while terrorists are depicted as the enemies of democracy. This begs the question: are tourists cultural ambassadors of their respective societies?  

Tourism, Terrorism and Security explores the current limitations of specialized literature to frame an all-encompassing understanding of tourism and security today. The main thesis of this book explores the idea that while tourists are workers who need to validate their political institutions through the articulation of leisure practices, terrorists are natives from the societies they hate. Terrorism has imposed a climate of mistrust, whereby tourists are targeted and killed to impose a political message. 

This book explores the semantics of this message. Tourism, Terrorism and Security is a must-read for students and scholars of tourism, hospitality, security, and cultural studies.

Chapter 1

Tourism Security: A Critical Insight

Maximiliano E. Korstanje

Abstract

This introductory chapter synthesises an extensive and hot debate revolving around the role of precautionary doctrine in tourism fields. Although the industry faces serious risks and dangers, terrorism – just after 9/11 – situates as the most dangerous hazard and as a challenge for policymakers and practitioners. We have reviewed the pros and cons of the most important academic schools that focused on tourism security and risk perception theory. The urgency is given in creating a bridge between theory and practice in order to articulate the policies to the nature of each risk. Today risk perception theory lacks a robust methodological background that invariably led to a gridlock. Whether the demographic school advances in the multivariable correlation between class, ideology, income or education with risk perception, the sociological school lays the foundations towards a much deeper understanding of the impacts of risks in society. Rather, the radical turn – coming from a Marxist tradition – focuses on the limitations of risk perception theory. Finally, authors who form the psychological tradition, as stated in this chapter, highlight on the complexity of emotions and the inner world. All chapters in this book aim to provide fresh practical cases that reflect the socio-cultural background of the four continents.

Keywords: Tourism security; precaution; radical turn; risk perception; global warming; terrorism

Introduction

The turn of the twentieth century brought many substantial changes which globally reorganised not only the position of the United States in the world but also the international relations without mentioning geopolitics. The attacks on the World Trade Center (WTC) and the Pentagon marked a new period of extreme uncertainties and higher levels of anxiety as never before. Ranging from terrorism to climate change, the figure of risks occupied a central position in the academic debate (Innerarity, 2013; Innerarity & Solana, 2013). Having said this, the industry of tourism was not an exception. Scholars and policymakers interrogated on the future of the industry while debating the rise of new risks in a more dynamic and ever-changing society (Hall, Timothy, & Duval, 2004; Mansfeld & Pizam, 2006; Tarlow, 2006). As Peter Tarlow (2006) puts it, the utopian vision of a safer world materialised just after the collapse of the Soviet Union remained inconclusive or at least unexplained. This new postmodern world seemed to be fraught with risks which not only placed Western democracies in jeopardy but also threatened the essence of tourism – at least as we know it. In this mayhem, some voices alert on the ‘end of tourism’ (Gale, 2009; Hannam, 2009), while others emphasise on the emergence of morbid forms of consumption as war tourism, dark or Thanatourism or grief tourism, to name a few (Korstanje, 2011; Light, 2017; Stone & Sharpley, 2008; Strange & Kempa, 2003). For this reason, the theory of security as it was originally formulated at the beginning of the 1980s or the 1990s should be revisited and updated according to these days. The precautionary principle, which is the conceptual touchstone of risk perception theory, outlined the possibility to prevent looming risks and threats employing the rational planning process (Liu, Pennington-Gray, & Krieger, 2016). Tourism management, as well as the communicative process, played a leading role in designing more resilient and safer destinations worldwide (Jiang, Scott, & Ritchie, 2018; Mair, Ritchie, & Walters, 2016; Walters, Wallin, & Hartley, 2019). The radicalisation of some long-dormant cells like ISIS as well as the recent terrorist attacks in Europe showed the conceptual limitations of the precautionary doctrine to prevent potential risks. Still further, although the literature suggesting the precautionary doctrine as an efficient instrument abounds, less attention was paid to the interplay between theory and practice.

The present book, in general, and this introductory chapter, in particular, intend to fulfil such a gap. Here two assumptions should be done. The question of whether the concept of tourism security is very hard to grasp very well associates to another second problem: how can tourism security be measured?

This chapter aims at discussing this and other points which daily concern the specialists in tourism security across the globe. The first section contains a philosophical debate revolving around tourism security. It is almost impossible to cite and include all published papers in this emerging sub-discipline. Thus, we rather concentrate efforts in explaining why terrorists usually target tourists worldwide. Secondly, the notion of precautionary doctrine is placed under the critical lens of scrutiny. Basically, we echo Cass Sunstein's critiques on preemption and the precautionary laws. In third, four academic schools are analysed (Demographic, Psychological, Sociological, and Radical Schools) to pose guiding questions in the years to come. We hold the thesis that an interplay between theory and practice should be constructed by the collaboration of experts and academicians.

Tourism Security Today

The term tourism security should be seen as a new emerging discipline which centres on the protection and well functioning of the tourist system as well as domestic and international destinations. Doubtless, security not only seems to be essential for the survival of the industry but also includes complex relationships with the local socioeconomic background (Tarlow, 2014). In fact, the idea has historically taken different shapes according to the circumstances and political climate each society lives in. In earlier work, Korstanje (2020) describes how terrorism, as well as its psychological effects, draws the agenda of the Western government since the 1970s decade to date. While the Luxor Massacre created a shock effect in the public opinion because it was the first time innocent Western tourists were murdered in cold blood, it was no less true that 9/11 revived long dormant fears revolving around the possibilities that terrorists employ mass destruction weapons. What is equally important, the recent attacks in Paris, New York, Barcelona, Brussels and London reveal new tactics of the organised and planned plots which characterszed Al-Qaeda as setting the pace to the action of lone wolves. These turning points have systematically modified the knowledge production as well as the dominant paradigms around tourism security fields. Unfortunately, terrorism and tourism appeared to be inextricably intertwined. In the book, The Political Economy of Terrorism, W. Enders and T. Sandler (2011) explore the reasons behind the assassination of tourists and other global travellers as a new phenomenon unknown to experts in the past decades. Now, for a reason which is very hard to predict, terrorists target travellers and tourists, instead of senior police officers or professional politicians. Based on the game theory, Enders and Sandler acknowledge that terrorists are far from being heartless demons or hatred-filled maniacs as the social wisdom imagines. Rather, they look for rapid gain maximisation at a minimum cost. While leisure hotspots and international destinations offer fewer risks for these radicalised cells in view of the low-security facilities, the derived psychological impact to the spectatorship is the greatest in history. Since terrorist attacks are finally perpetrated in the public sphere, laypeople strongly believe that anyone – no matter the purchasing power, ethnicity or class – can be a potential victim anywhere. This message instills extreme fear and higher levels of anxiety in society.

As the previous backdrop, it is important to remember that one of the seminal texts in the constellations of tourism security was published in Annals of Tourism Research. In this research, Sevil Sönmez (1998) argues eloquently that terrorism should be contemplated as a major threat for the political stability of the Middle East, and of course for the tourist system. Tourism serves as a mechanism towards the economic revitalisation of the site, as well as the prosperity and the democratisation of community. As Sönmez describes, some radicalised groups target tourists in order to accelerate a climate of political instability affecting not only the profits of the community but also the organic image of the country. Like Sönmez, those researchers, who have investigated on tourism security, are worried by the immediate consequences of terrorism and political violence in the industries of tourism and hospitality. This is exactly the case of Abraham Pizam who is a leading voice in these types of issues. In Pizam's approach, at a time when scholars think of the field of tourism security, it is important not to lose sight of the fact that the violence perpetrated by terrorism is not the only factor. Acts of domestic violence, accompanied by local crime, are key elements to be taken seriously into consideration (Fuchs & Pizam, 2011; Mansfeld & Pizam, 2006; Pizam, 1999). Although tourists are in search of novel experiences, and new sensations, their vulnerability – before external dangers such as terrorism, crime, epidemics or disasters – is notably palpable. Hence, the figure of tourism security occupies a central position as a major determinant in travellers' decisions to avoid or visit a site. In spite of the growing number of publications, there is little differentiation about the nature of these looming risks, as Fuchs and Pizam add. In normal conditions, tourists are seriously harmed by events though they have unintentionally happened. From this viewpoint, they start to redesign a new paradigm which catalogues the different risks according to their nature and impact. Authors go on to write,

Safety incidents can be conceptualized as incidents where tourists are injured accidentally and without malice aforethought. Safety incidents can be captured into two groups according to the ability to prevent those natural disasters that cannot be prevented, and other incidents that can be avoided or mitigated. (Fuchs & Pizam, 2011, p. 301)

The precautionary doctrine, which is carefully drawn to mitigate the aftermaths of major threats, arrived to stay in tourism research. The axiom punctuates that while tourists are victimised anywhere and any time, other (potential) tourists ponder the destination as unsafe, declining its attractiveness and profitability. In Fuchs and Pizam's argumentation, tourists are often targeted because of two main factors: their behaviour and appearance. As non-local actors who are not familiar with the visited terrain, tourists are an easy target not only for terrorists but also for local crime. This moot point begs a couple of interesting questions: should the precautionary principle lead to a zero-risk society? may we really forecast potential crimes? is the current legislature and law able to judge events that have not taken place in reality?

The French Philosopher Jean Baudrillard (2006) devotes considerable efforts and resources to resolve this philosophical dilemma. He cites the plot of Minority Report – one of Spielberg's films. The Precogs are mutated humans who are able to visualise crimes before they take place. Supported by high-tech and the Prototype PreCrime Police department (in Washington, DC), these Precogs have a vision from the future. These visions lead the police to eradicate successfully a crime because the potential offenders are arrested before they commit the offence. In this crime-zero society, everything was right until Captain John Anderton – the commander of the department – is unjustly accused of a crime prompting his flee in quest of answers. This problem has a serious caveat which was not thought by the programmers; once people are aware of their future, they have the chance to alter their acts. Baudrillard overtly writes that this represents the dichotomies of capitalism and the precautionary principle. After all, risks are not concrete threats unless in the scientists' minds. The zero-risk society seems to be, in Baudrillard's terms, a society which confronts with the Roman jurisprudence where crimes should be strictly castigated once committed. Baudrillard's critique resonated heavily in the social sciences and the fields of criminology (Campbell, 2010; Kellner, 2018; Korstanje, 2018), though in tourism remains unexplored. In his book, The Laws of Fear: Beyond the Precautionary Principle, Professor Cass Sunstein (2005) exerts a radical criticism on the logic of preemption and the precautionary doctrine. At the bottom, he toys with the belief that laypeople do not always make the correct decisions because they are subject to emotional distortions. This suggests that some risks of low impact are over-exaggerated, whereas others of high impact are simply ignored. The government should prevent the influence of ‘populism’ and pressure groups to adopt policies that contain major risks. Sunstein's preliminary remarks deal with the question of why people are frightened, or, as an alternative, why people feel safe when they should feel fear. From his point of view, in a democracy, or at least in deliberative democracy, the debate predominates over other forms of deliberation to decrease somewhat involuntary errors. This is the point that distinguishes a deliberative democracy from a demagogic populism. In other words, the state of a disaster that involves a community might be prevented or partly mitigated whenever the issues that impinge on the public life are previously discussed, debated and forecasted. This belief would explain the reasons as to why democratic societies have more instruments to face disasters than totalitarian or authoritarian ones. Whereas the latter does not provide their citizens with the necessary steps to evaluate the pre-existing risks, the former invests a considerable amount of capital in the process of mitigation and preparedness for natural catastrophes. Following these points, Sunstein alerts that the theory of pre-emption should be reconsidered:

• The principle of precaution very well gives origin to the risks it tries to prevent.
• Over-exposure to the precautionary doctrine predisposes public opinion to pa...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series Editor
• Title
• Copyright
• Endrosements
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Preface: Tourism Security and Dark Tourism Today
• Chapter 1 Tourism Security: A Critical Insight
• Chapter 2 Overtourism: A Merry-Go-Round of Security Issues
• Chapter 3 Sensitivity Analysis of the Colombian Tourism Market: Natural National Parks in a Context of Armed Conflict
• Chapter 4 The Territory of the Country as an Object of Tourist Safety: Global Practice and the Case of Russia
• Chapter 5 Safety, Fear, Risk and Terrorism in the Context of Religious Tourism
• Chapter 6 Making Sense of Dark Tourism: Typologies, Motivations and Future Development of Theory
• Chapter 7 The Interface between Dark Tourism and Terrorism in Africa: The Case of Kenya and St Helena
• Chapter 8 The Dark Tourist: Consuming Dark Spaces in the Periphery
• Chapter 9 Tourists: Duty of Care
• Chapter 10 Tourism and Terrorism: Terrorists' Threats to Commercial Aviation Safety and Security
• Index