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photo: PlusONE


This month of July has not been an easy one in the world, and especially in the world of tourism.  Until recently, tourism oriented nations experienced one or another form of crisis on a tri or bi-monthly or monthly basis.  During the last few weeks, the crise du mois seems to have become the crise de la semaine (crisis of the week).

 
During the last few weeks, the Middle East, especially Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and the Asian sub-continent have witnessed an upsurge of violence.

The most recent successful terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California raises not only a number of security issues but also issues on the media and public policy.  The results of this debate may have a great impact on the tourism and travel industries.

There is no doubt that these attacks casued media frenzy.  Major news outlets in the US and Europe dedicated whole days to the attack. In fact, they created a sense of national or international panic.  If terrorists seek publicity and provoke p

Recent events around the world have proven once again that holding a major event is no easy matter.  Not only must a community deal with the event itself but there are always logistics, marketing, and public relations that go hand in hand with a major event.  To make matters even more challenging we live in a world of political unrest. Major events are of course targets for terrorism.  They also may incite local protests that have nothing to do with terrorism. These demonstrations are byproducts

The multiple recent terrorist attacks in diverse places such as London, Istanbul, San Bernardino, Sharm El-Sheikh, and Tel Aviv, along with the major tourism threats in others like Ankara, Brussels, Munich, and New York City, ought to serve as a warning to the tourism industry that it is entering into a new and dangerous age.  

In the past, most tourism centers assumed that either they would not be targets of a terrorism attack or that the attack would be against a highly specific and well-k

This month has not been easy for specialists in tourism security. We first witnessed the terrorist bombing of the Russian aircraft, causing not only death and destruction to innocent civilians but also a major blow to Egypt’s tourism industry. Then, on Friday the 13th, the first reports of the terrible attacks in Paris began to come through the newswires.

It is still too early to provide a full security picture of the events. The French police are correctly holding back information and being

Part I  (see below for Part II)

Now that the December holidays are past, and the parties have ended, just like almost everyone else, tourism professionals must return to a world of work and new challenges.  From health issues to economic issues, from issues of social unrest to all too often substandard customer service, tourism officials face a host of problems.  Some of these problems are within the tourism and travel industry’s control.  Although others are not in the industry’s direct control

Billions Spent, But Are We Any Safer?


In its usual witty, acerbic but always readable content, FastCompany  looks at the Transportation Security Administration’s  huge expenditures on air travel since 9/11 in their efforts to keep us safe.

How huge is huge?

Fifty-six plus billion dollars spent on schemes and strategies that more of ten than not fall flat or never get off the ground.

But as the publication asks, who’s getting the money? And what is working?

On balance there seem to be more busts than