The Meaning of Genocide and Terror in Cognitive Tourism
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Tourism / Turyzm Volume 23 Issue 1 Article 1 March 2014 The meaning of genocide and terror in cognitive tourism Sławoj Tanaś University of Łódź, Instytut of Urban Geography and Tourism Studies Follow this and additional works at: https://digijournals.uni.lodz.pl/turyzm Recommended Citation Tanaś, Sławoj (2014) "The meaning of genocide and terror in cognitive tourism," Tourism / Turyzm: Vol. 23 : Iss. 1 , Article 1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/tour-2013-0001 Available at: https://digijournals.uni.lodz.pl/turyzm/vol23/iss1/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Social Sciences Journals at University of Lodz Research Online. It has been accepted for inclusion in Tourism / Turyzm by an authorized editor of University of Lodz Research Online. For more information, please contact [email protected]. DOI 10.2478/ tour -2013-0001 Tourism 2013, 23/1 Sławoj Tanaś University of Łódź Instytut of Urban Geography and Tourism Studies [email protected] THE MEANING OF GENOCIDE AND TERROR IN COGNITIVE TOURISM Abstract: The article considers the influence of acts of terror and war crimes on both the development of tourism, or a lack of it. Terrorist attacks, the victims of which are tourists as well as local citizens, constrain or completely prevent tourism development. Terrorism is then a barrier to the development of the tourism economy. With time, however, memory of the crime and its victims, due to documentation and commemoration, may become an impulse to organize spaces which will be included in tourism. Key words: thanatourism, terrorism, genocide, remembrance, tourism space. 1. INTRODUCTION Information plays an important role in creating Armed conflicts and terrorism belong to those tourism needs and motivations often differing from factors which constrain or prevent tourism. Other those in the past. Let us take, for example, travelling to factors are social (crime rate, cultural differences), places which in the mid-20 th c. were regarded as non- political (political or religious conflicts), health touristic for safety reasons, lack of tourism infra- (epidemics, contagious diseases), industrial (chemical structure and facilities, and political or transport and nuclear hazards) and environmental (natural limitations. disasters). The main causes are the impossibility of The 1980s marked the beginning of travel to sites guaranteeing safety to tourists and those employed in where acts of terror or war crimes had taken place in the industry, as well as the logistical difficulties in the relatively recent past. Although visiting sites of organizing a tourism stay in dangerous areas. terror, genocide or war has a long history, trips made The factors constraining tourism development also in order to see the site of a crime still vividly include ethical barriers (STONE 2012). Should an remembered by local people and stirring strong emo- exploring tourist visit places where other people have tions among them, have always been controversial suffered and died, and at the same time observe the (SHARPLEY & STONE 2009, STONE 2012). The urge for results of violence; and not necessarily combining this type of travel may arise from a variety of reasons, their stay with a noble cause such as humanitarian such as the need to pay homage to the victims, aid? a feeling of empathy towards them or their relatives, For safety or political reasons, in such situations, or the need to commemorate the very fact of the tourists are usually isolated from the world around crime itself. Tourists’ needs, however, may be purely them and safely accommodated; they travel in con- emotional, e.g. they may want to travel to a site which voys guarded by armed police, the army or special has experienced evil and cruelty, and bears the stigma units, and observe reality from a ‘safe’ though close of the dangerous or forbidden, evoking fear and distance. In such circumstances we may even talk disgust. Such tourism is most often referred to as dark about the theatricalisation of human suffering. tourism (LENNON & FOLEY 2000) and thanatourism In the contemporary world, tourism is considered (S EATON 1996). The literature offers a whole array of to be one of the most profitable sectors of an economy. terms describing journeys to sites with a sinister In 2012, it generated 9% of global GNP and 6% of history, such as black spot tourism , slavery tourism , exports in the least developed countries, bringing in genocide tourism , war tourism , battlefield tourism , terror 1,200 billion dollars annually, with 1,035 billion tourism , phoenix tourism or death tourism . tourism arrivals crossing borders. One in 12 jobs 8 Tourism 2013, 23/1 globally is found in the tourism sector. Compared to asset associated with an act of violence, and then be the previous year, in 2012 the increase in the number transformed gradually into a tourism attraction and of foreign tourism arrivals was larger in developing product. Then we may speak about the formation of countries (+4.3%). In Africa, it reached 6%, after remembrance space, a symbolic space frequently a considerable drop of 9% in 2011 due to unrest in visited by tourists. North Africa. In 2011, there was a clear decrease in the number of arrivals in Tunisia (–31%) and Egypt (–32%), in comparison to 2010. Again, it was a con- sequence of political unrest and acts of violence. 2. GENOCIDE AND TERROR AS A BARRIER A similar trend was found in 2011 in Jordan (–6%), TO TOURISM DEVELOPMENT Lebanon (–24%), Palestine (–14%) and Syria (–41%) (UNWTO 2012, 2013). th st Tourism is one of the key economic sectors in In the second half of the 20 c. and in the early 21 c., many countries, in particular those with an unstable in the era of rapid global economic development socio-political situation and underdeveloped economy, (including tourism), military conflicts have become countries which are nevertheless attractive from the very common frequently resulting in war atrocities point of view of satisfying tourism needs. Statistics and genocide. War discourages potential tourists, concerning foreign tourism arrivals in 2011 and 2012 though there are cases when a ‘tourist’ travels to a in South Africa alone show how sensitive tourism is to conflict area in order to experience the reality of war political unrest and a lack of security resulting from directly (currently, it is the border area between North terrorist, military and criminal activity. and South Korea, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Acts of violence, war and terrorism limit tourism Iraq). over relatively short periods. The changes in tourism An element relevant to this issue is the scale of in South-East Asia, which were the consequence of the today’s crimes against humanity, which largely or terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre (WTC) in completely prevent tourism development. Un- New York in 2001, were pointed out by EDMONDS & fortunately, recent acts of genocide have been taking MAK (2006) who showed that tourism decreases only place in very attractive tourism areas (BEECH 2009). for a short period of time, but returns to the previous In the last 50 years, they have been recorded in trend. Unfortunately, it is always connected with Bangladesh, Cambodia (crimes committed by the considerable financial losses in many sectors of the Khmer Rouge), Northern Iraq (the Kurdish massacre), economy (Fig. 1). the former Yugoslavia (Srebrenica massacre), Rwanda (the conflict between the Tutsi and the Hutu), Darfur (the conflict in Sudan), Syria (civil war), and many NUMBER OF TOURIST ARRIVALS RETURN other parts of Africa and Asia (BRUNETEAU 2005). In TO PREVIOUS TREND the literature in English on the subject, travel to places ND RE L T where people are killed in great numbers is referred to CA RI TO as genocide tourism (BEECH 2009). IS H In the second half of the 20 th c. a new military LOSSES target – civilians – was used, who had nothing to ACT OF TERROR do with the front line or any conscious contact LEVEL OF TOURIST ARRIVALS with the war. Civilians, attacked in all parts of the BEFORE THE ACT OF TERROR world from the 1960s, have included tourists who have fallen victim to terrorist armed groups, partisans DECREASE RETURN and criminals, kidnapping or killing for publicity, to TO LEVEL BEFORE THE ACT OF TERROR reach their own political goals or to gain money. Terrorism is a form of political violence, in which TIME murder or destruction is used (or its threat) in order to shock or arouse extreme fear in individuals, or Fig. 1. Decreases and increases in tourism after an act of terror S o u r c e: author’s compilation based on EDMONDS & MAK (2006) among groups, communities and authorities, to force them to agree to political compromise, provoke hasty reactions and to demonstrate their own political In the long run, acts of violence (genocide, terror) stand (BOLECHÓW 2002, 35). In the case of attacks on may be commemorated in geographical space through tourists, we may talk about international terrorism, symbols – monuments, graves, museums or theme involving the citizens or territory of more than one parks (historical). With time, events of this type may country. Religious terrorism may affect pilgrimage become an impulse to the development of a historical tourism. Articles 9 T a b l e 1. Examples of terrorist attacks on tourists Date Place Event description 5/3/1970 Tel Aviv (Israel) Attack on the Savoy Hotel in Tel Aviv 13/2/1978 Sydney (Australia) Attack on the Hilton Hotel in Sydney 2/11/1979 Mecca (Saudi Arabia) Islamic terrorists occupy the Great Mosque