TOURISTS
UNDETERRED BY TERROR
THREATS
Market
Intelligence
Department of the World Tourism
Organization (WTO). More
details
"In
2001, the September 11 attacks generated
fear. But recent acts
of
terrorism
have been met more by a sentiment of
repugnance rather than
fear.
When
faced with terrorism, the members of the
society being attacked
are
determined
not to allow violent acts to pressure them
into changing their
way
of life," explained WTO Secretary-General,
Francesco Frangialli.
There
has
been a shift in the security paradigm with
regard to everyday life
and
travel,
as people have come to accept higher
levels of uncertainty than
in
past
years.
"As we
have been seeing of late, attacks can
happen anywhere, and are
not
limited
to foreign travel destinations. The public
must not let itself bedeterred from
travelling, " added Mr.
Frangialli.
Egypt,
like most other emerging destinations in
the Mediterranean and
the\
Middle
East, has experienced robust growth over
the past several years. In1995, it
received more than 2.9 million tourist
arrivals. Since
then,
various
events have exerted pressure to slow down
this tourism
development,
but
have not been able to do so. On each
occasion, tourism experienced onlya
temporary slowdown, and went on to recover
within a relatively
short
period
of time. In 2004, Egypt recorded more than
8.1 million visitor
arrivals,
nearly eight million of which corresponded
to tourists. The
growth
rate over this period, 11 per cent per
annum, speaks for itself.
The
first
four months of 2005 showed even faster
growth: 15.6 per cent
compared
to
the same period the previous year. Between
1995 and 2004,
international
tourism
receipts increased from 2.7 billion to 6.1
billion US dollars.
In the
case of Luxor, the attack was national in
scope; that of 23
July
came
within a global context that has already
involved very different
types
of
destination. It is a situation that can
potentially cause a
temporary
change
in tourism activity, and is something that
can affect anydestination. Counteracting
this factor is the aforementioned
observationthat the demand seems to have
become more accustomed to such attacks.
This
in
no way attenuates the condemnation
provoked by such attacks or
the
actions
called for to respond to them. What this
new attitude has
done,
however,
is to shorten the period of recovery of
tourism.
Over
the past several years, the tourism sector
has accumulated
experience
and
developed greater management capacity to
cope with situations like
the
one
in Sharm El-Sheikh. Such increased
management capacity, enhanced by
a
clear
spirit of solidarity, can be seen on the
part of both public
administrators,
and providers of tourism
services.
On
this occasion, most travel advisories have
had the good sense
to
,distinguish
between the directly affected destination
and other Egyptian
destinations.
They have recommended that tourists
travelling to Sharm
el-Sheikh
take extra precautions, and very few have
warned against
travel
to
this destination. There have been no
warnings against travelling
to
other
destinations in the country. In some
cases, the travel
advisories
themselves
point out that these acts of terrorism
should be understood as
a
global
risk.
Outlook
Most
experts consulted believe that projections
for Egyptian
destinations
in
general should not be significantly
affected. As for Sharm el-Sheikh,the
short-term trend seems to point to a
reduction in cancellations and
a
resumption
of new bookings within 2 to 3 months. This
recovery will be
different
in each generating market, and will also
depend on how the
destination
positions itself in the market, especially
in terms of
perceived
safety and security, prices, and
accessibility. In the
Egyptian
market,
the regional market and certain Eastern
European countries,
no
changes
relative to previous years are expected
during the winter season.
In
the rest of the countries of the region,
if the normal pace
of
development
of tourism is not altered, demand is
expected to perform
in
line
with the trend observed over the past
several years. At the
world
level,
no noticeable changes are expected in
international tourism. The
WTO
Secretariat
maintains the forecasts it issued at the
beginning of the
year,
predicting
an increase of around 5 to 8 per cent over
2004 levels,
barring
any
new developments that disrupt the normal
functioning of
international
tourism.
The
complete report is available (currently in
Spanish language
and
shortly
in English and French) at:
http://www.world-tourism.org/espanol/newsroom/Releases/2005/agosto/egypt.pdf
For
further information please
contact:
WTO
Press and Communications
Department
Tel.:
(34) 91-567-8193 / Fax: (34)
91-567-8218
E-mail:
comm@world-tourism.org
www.world-tourism.org
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