Terror and Tourism

When terrorists hijacked two passenger planes and flew them into the World Trade Centre they were seeking to strike a blow to the financial heart of the richest nation on earth. As well as the symbolic act of destroying the towers, the headquarters of corporate America, using commercial aircraft filled with passengers threatened to kill tourism not just in the US but around the world.

For weeks, months and in some cases years, people were afraid to fly after 9/11. An industry that is sensitive to even the most minor negative news event was plunged into crisis. Americans are notorious stay-at home vacationers and the fear of terrorism was enough to convince many of them that it was far safer to holiday closer to home.

Almost every economy relies on tourists, either domestic or foreign, to provide a seasonal injection of cash. With so many destinations to choose from, even the smallest factor can convince a lucrative flow of visitors to head somewhere else. In 2001, for example, foot and mouth disease led to a massive slump in UK inbound tourism despite the fact that most towns and cities were largely unaffected.

Since 9/11, tourist hotspots have been high on the list of terrorist targets. From Bali in 2002 to and Sharm-el-Sheik earlier this year, major centres of global tourism have been under attack from fundamentalist groups seeking to cripple western economies.

In the month of the London train bombings visitors to the capital fell by 100,000. The 2.58 million people that came to London in June dipped to 2.48 million as the impact of the July 7th bomb blasts on three Tube trains and a bus combined with the failed attacks two weeks later to plunge the city into a climate of fear.

While Londoners did their best to get back to normal in the wake of the atrocities, those who had a choice stayed away. Madrid experienced a similar trend in 2004 after bomb attacks on commuter trains claimed almost 200 lives, as did Bali three years ago.

But the longer-term view suggests that the impact of these attacks is rather limited. In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, US airspace was closed and the airline industry was left wondering if it would ever recover. But America's worst terrorist atrocity had ramifications beyond tourism that have ultimately come full circle and helped boost the number of Americans heading abroad.

Before 9/11 the Bush administration was content in its isolationist approach and the president himself was rumoured to have not had a passport. Many commentators have noted that 9/11 provided a massive shift in direction, which has seen America play a bigger role on the world stage than at any time since the Cold War.

At the same time, Americans are now more inclined to travel overseas. In fact last year 27 million Americans headed abroad, a 12 per cent rise on 2003. Iraq might have made Americans unpopular in certain corners of the globe but they are certainly not hiding at home.

London will be hoping for a similar rebound as the war on terror rages on.

Wherever you are going you can find cheap flights by comparing prices from different airlines.