Frequency of terrorist attacks having negative impact on global tourism

London

THE frequency of terrorist atrocities is beginning to have a depressing impact on the US$7.8 trillion global tourism industry.

The Brussels outrages on Tuesday within the city's airport and metro come only days after a car bomb killed 36 people in Ankara, Turkey and five others in Istanbul while attacks against tourists in the Ivory Coast caused casualties there. The infamous coordinated terrorist murders in Paris took place last November.

Research of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) shows that compared to disease, environmental and political crises, terrorist incidents had the lowest impact in terms of both total lost arrivals and recovery time a few years ago; in other words, the business recovery times in the past have been relatively swift. The United Nations World Tourism Organization's (WTO) World Tourism Barometer in January also estimated that despite…