Analyzing Tourism Challenges: Natural Disasters and Terrorism Impact

This case study examines the significant challenges faced by tourism destinations due to natural disasters and terrorism, highlighting the vulnerability of the tourism industry to these crises. The increasing frequency of natural disasters, such as earthquakes, landslides, and hurricanes, poses threats to tourist safety and infrastructure. Similarly, terrorist attacks targeting tourists disrupt the industry and reflect philosophical antagonism towards western values. Globalization has expanded tourism businesses but also increased their exposure to risks. The study emphasizes the need for effective risk management and resilience strategies to mitigate the adverse impacts of these events on the tourism sector. Desklib offers a range of resources including similar case studies and solved assignments for students.

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Case study
Challenges for tourism destinations from natural disaster and terrorism
Introduction
The presented case scenario is focused on the impacts of natural disaster and terrorism on
tourism destinations. Global travel and tourism has been considered as one of the biggest and
significant contributors in the economic growth and development of a region with the global
growth in international tourists arrivals outpacing national income growth one out of every two
years over the past three decades (Bac, Bugnar & Mester, 2015). According to the given scenario
the case study focuses on the impacts or the challenges faced by the tourism destinations from
natural disasters and terrorism. After analyzing a detailed research it has been noted that an
increasing number of disasters and crisis which are adversely impacting the tourism industry.
In the recent times the international tourism destinations has gone through many crises and
disastrous situations which includes natural disasters, terrorists attacks economic recession and
bio security threats. For increasing and expanding the profitability and market share of tourism
businesses on global level globalization has become the major reason of rapid expansion. The
major elements of the presented case study are terrorism and natural disaster and impacts of
these elements on the tourism destinations.
Natural disasters
The vulnerability of the tourist destinations is emphasized by various authors and on the basis of
the suggestions it is observed that in these situations the tourists will be exposed to danger. It is
also described that the experience of natural disasters to the tourism is directly inter-connected
through the appeal and attractiveness of the highly risky and exotic tourism destinations, where
the occurrence of the natural events such as volcanic eruptions, landslides, hurricanes and
avalanches are very common (Williams & Baláž, 2015). From the past few years the frequency
of natural disasters has increased. The insinuations are thoughtful, particularly since many
pretentious areas are heavily dependent on tourism for economic vivacity. There are various
representative examples of natural disasters which include earthquakes, landslides, volcanic
eruptions, flooding, wild fires, hurricanes that has occurred during the past decades and the

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extent that a natural calamity can be proven harmful to the tourism industry. The below
presented are some of the problems that are caused by the natural disasters and which will affect
a considerable area and presented as follows:
 Increasing concerns regarding the tourists safety and security
 Devastation and destruction of the facilities and infrastructures
Terrorism
The present era and new millennium has been determined by various disasters since the terrorist
Attacks, for instance the attacks in New York City and Washington D.C. on Sept. 11, 2001 are
some of the examples of terrorist activities (Maditinos & Vassiliadis 2016). These terrorist acts
stunned the world and marked the opening of a depressed sentiment in the tourism sector. These
terrorist activities have clear negative effects on tourism industry. The terrorist’s organizations
target specifically the tourists (Baker, 2014). Tourism is viewed to represent entrepreneurship
and obvious consumption and an attack on tourists indicates philosophical antagonism to these
western values.

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References
Bac, D. P., Bugnar, N. G., & Mester, L. E. (2015) Terrorism and its impacts on the tourism
industry. Revista Română de Geografie Politică, 17(1), 5-11.
Baker, D. M. A. (2014) The effects of terrorism on the travel and tourism industry. International
Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage, 2(1), 9.
Maditinos, Z. & Vassiliadis. (2016) Local crises and natural disasters: Effects and consequences
on the global tourism industry, [Online]. Retrieved from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/27381143_Local_Crises_and_Natural_Disaster
s_Effects_and_Consequences_on_the_Global_Tourism_Industry.
Williams, A. M., & Baláž, V. (2015) Tourism risk and uncertainty: Theoretical
reflections. Journal of Travel Research, 54(3), 271-287.