Marketing in the Modern World: Tourism After Terrorist Attacks

The travel and tourism industry is one of the world's largest industries with a global economic contribution (direct, indirect, and induced) of over 7.6 trillion U.S. dollars in 2016. The direct economic impact of the industry in the areas of accommodation, transportation, entertainment, and attractions, was approximately 2.3 trillion U.S. dollars that year (United Nations World Tourism Organization, 2017). However, in recent years, the prevalence of terrorist attacks is causing hesitation in would-be travelers and stigmatizing certain destinations. According to Statista, the number of terrorist attacks in 2017 was 22,487, which includes acts of terrorism, insurgency, and politically- or ideologically-motivated violence by non-state actors--enough to cause widespread consequences within the tourism industry. The goal of this project is to analyze the strategies and best practices of different marketing groups after terrorist acts have occurred. The scope will be on the psychological and financial reactions by both national and individual tourism companies after New York City 9/11, Paris 2015, the Nigerian Boko Haram kidnappings, and the Manchester and Las Vegas concert attacks. The results will likely suggest that proactive planning and comprehensive strategy will help people move past fear of terrorism and again encourage traveling to affected regions.