Contemporary Issues Influencing Tourism Globally

This paper discusses the impact of terrorism, climate change, and tourism as a diplomatic weapon on the growth and development of the tourism industry globally.

CONTEMPORARY ISSUES INFLUENCING TOURISM GLOBALLY
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contemporary issues influencing tourism globally 2
contemporary issues influencing tourism globally
Introduction
Over the last couple of decades, tourism has grown tremendously thanks to the advancement and
adoption of technology that has contributed immensely on globalization. However, there are
several contemporary issues that affect tourism today, they are climate change, tourism as a
diplomatic weapon and finally terrorism. These three issues affect tourism globally and will be
discussed in length in this paper.
Terrorism’s Impact on Tourism
Terrorism is a major contemporary issue that the tourism industry has to face, especially since a
network of terror activities have unfolded over the last decade throughout Spain, Europe, Africa,
and the US, or in other words the major tourist global destinations. However, the increase in
sophistication of these terror activities is becoming a major concern in the fight against terrorism
globally. These terror activities are heavily affecting the growth and development of tourism
globally due to the media coverage they receive, moreover, the tourist is mainly considered to be
easy targets in their jihad campaigns (Bac, Bugnar and Mester 2015). This results in government
initiating travel bans on tourist destinations that have been affected by terror activities which also
instigates fear among foreign and domestic tourist from traveling.
An example of a tourist destination that was affected by terror attacks is Brussel. Just after the
March 2016 terror attacks, flight arrivals and bookings reduced drastically, moreover even the

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flight searches to Brussel also reduced thereafter. Consequently, other terror attacks that
happened in Paris, Berlin, and Rome also suffered the same fate as Brussels, especially when
governments issued travel notices on these tourist destinations, it is not surprising at all that
many would still be tentative in the aftermath of a terrorist attack in tourist destinations globally.
This has significantly affected the industry as tourism agencies would carry out bookings
cautiously for fear of an impending attack. Tourism in Paris was at its highest peak over the last
couple of years before the rampant increase of terror activities, it still has not fully recovered
from the last terror attacks as the number flights have been comparatively low as well as other
regions all over the world (Liu and Pratt 2017). This has in the long run contributed to the slow
growth and development of tourism industry globally.
Climate change impact on tourism
Another issue affecting tourism immensely is climate. In the past several years, climatic changes
have occurred shifting towards global warming, which has been a growing concern. However,
these climatic changes have initiated a repo effect on the tourism industry that is causing a
stumbling block to its growth and development. different nations all over the world are
experiencing extreme temperatures, flooding and unpredictable weather patterns that could lead
to extended winter or summer periods. These consequences of climatic change are not only
evident but can not be ignored due to their impact on the environment which is significant to the
growth and sustainability of the tourism industry (Mowforth and Munt 2015).
For instance, tourist destinations that have depended on winter due to snow for conducting
tourist activities such as skiing, are experiencing the consequences of global warming as there is

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a constant significant reduction in volumes of snow all over the world due to reduced winter
periods (Klein et al.2016) On the other hand, tourist destinations that experience warm
temperature are a haven for tourist especially the northern Europeans, however, the climatic
changes have caused an unprecedented increase in temperatures. Temperatures beyond 40
degrees Celsius is high for human life and uncomfortable as well. Additionally, high
temperatures tend to be a conducive condition for the thriving and spreading of diseases like
Malaria which is rampant in tropical tourist destinations such as Africa and southeast Asia
(Hoogendoorn and Fitchett 2018). Hurricanes and tsunamis are increasing and getting stronger
due to climatic change especially due to global warming. They cause the destruction of
properties and infrastructure in regions that occur such as Indonesia, which is a major global
destination. This causes a set back to the tourism industry in such a region, affecting the overall
growth and development of the tourism industry globally (Tsai et al. 2016)
Tourism as a diplomatic weapon
The growth and development of tourism as a global powerhouse has led to the constant use of
the industry as a potential weapon for governments and other institutions to use against their
rival or to their benefit. This came to light with the recent trade war between China and The US
early this year. China is globally known to provide the largest number of tourist arrivals all over
the world due to their increased population and their standards of living back home which has
developed their spending power at tourist destinations in the long run (Jamie 2018). This gives
the china a strong leverage over its rivals such as the US, which generates over a trillion dollars

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annually and provides over seven million US citizens with jobs. Initiating a travel restriction for
Chinese tourist to the US will cause a significant dent to the economic stability if the country
Additionally, China has resulted to use tourism as a diplomatic weapon with other countries that
may be challenging its supremacy such as Australia, Taiwan, and Japan which will result to a
setback in the development and growth of tourism in the countries as tourist arrivals from China
will reduce (Jamie 2018,p 5). This act by China could motivate other countries that have the
upper hand in providing a significant number of tourist arrivals to using tourism as a soft weapon
against other countries in achieving their goals and objectives at the peril of the tourism industry.
This, in the long run, may deteriorate the overall growth of the tourism industry globally.
Conclusion
In conclusion, tourism has grown to be a major powerhouse all over the world due to the success
of globalization. However, its success has been on experiencing setback due to the various
contemporary issues that have been discussed in this paper where they can be amended through
the use of proper channels with the help of governments, private institutions, and the Tourists as
well for the purpose of ensuring the growth and development of the tourism industry

contemporary issues influencing tourism globally 6
References
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