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POLITICAL INSTABILITY AND ITS EFFECTS ON

TOURISM
Sarah JR Ryu
School of Hospitality, Tourism and Marketing
Victoria University
Melbourne, Australia

ABSTRACT

Tourism today is second only to oil as the worlds leading export commodity, accounting
for global earnings of more than $300 billion, or nearly 25 per cent of total world GNP (Poirier
2000, p30, cited in Dieke, 2000). Over the last two decades, tourism has proved to be the worlds
fastest growing economic sector, with average growth of 7.1 per cent per year in arrivals and
12.5 per cent in receipts (Poirier 2000, p30, cited in Dieke, 2000). So tourism should be seen as a
major industry and a boost to the economy generally through the results or flow on of the
multiplier effect in tourism (Elliott 1997).
Despite these statistics, apparent growth tourism in many countries falters when confronted with
various political instabilities that cause to distract development in tourism.

This exploratory paper, which is part of an ongoing major research project, will examine
how tourism can be used as a tool for political and ideological goals, how tourism reform occurs
by the industry of particularly politically troubled nations, how tourism can be moulded by the
political purpose, and the impact political instability has upon the healthy operation of tourism.

Key words: political instabilities, political purpose and tools, troubled countries, politics and
tourism, terrorism, warfare, coups, political violence, effects on tourism, travel advisories.

INTRODUCTION

The issue of political stability and political relations within and between states is
extremely important in determining the image of destinations in tourist-generating regions and
the real and perceived safety of tourists (Hall 1996). Also the media through books, magazines,
newspapers, satellites and cable links has a substantial influence on images of destinations,
especially as media selects particular representations and interpretation of places, events and
images which would have the greatest influence on creating stereotypical images of a tourist
destination in tourist generating regions. Warfare, coups and political strikes or protests causes
problematic concerns in the tourism development and the attraction of visitors.

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 As Ankomah and Crompton (1990, p19) suggest, a major consideration in a potential
travellers decision to visit any foreign destination is that countrys political stability and general
internal security conditions. Any evidence of domestic turmoil is likely to result in a decision not
to visit that country.

WHAT IS POLITICAL INSTABILITY?

Political instability is a complex and multidimensional term with various

conceptualisations and interpretations (Gupta 1990; Sanders 1981; Andriole and Hopple, 1984).
The need for assessment, evaluation and analysis of the various interrelationships of political
instability and the tourism industry is essential, considering the sensitive nature of the tourism
industry, the ever-increasing competition, and the very narrow profit margins (Theocharous,
Nuttal and Sedderland 2000, p 385).
.
Political instability is described as a condition of a country where a government has
been toppled, or is controlled by factions following a coup, or where basic functional pre-
requisites for social-order control and maintenance are unstable and periodically disrupted
(Cook 1990 cited in Sonmez 1998, p 420). A number of different dimensions of political
instability can be identified within international tourism such as international and civil wars,
coups, terrorism, riots, political and social unrest and strikes (Lea and Small 1988, cited in Hall
and OSullivan 1996, p 108).

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POLITICS AND TOURISM

The relationship between politics and tourism is not primarily concerned with political
parties and elections (Hall1996, p 2). Nor does politics extend any influence on tourism policy,
although this is an aspect of the politics of tourism (Lasswell 1936, cited in Hall 1996). Edgell
(1990) asserts that the highest purpose of tourism policy is to integrate the economic, political,
cultural, intellectual and economic benefits of tourism cohesively with people, destinations, and
countries in order to improve the global quality of life and provide a foundation for peace and
prosperitythe political aspects of tourism are interwoven with its economic
consequences...tourism is not only a continuation of politics but an integral part of the worlds
political economy. In short, tourism is, or can be, a tool used not only for economic but for
political means (Edgell 1990, cited in Hall 1996, p 37). However, despite the evidence, political
science has all but ignored the role of tourism in modern society (Matthews 1978, 1983 and
Richter 1989, cited in Hall 1996, p 2).

There are very few studies that investigate the relationship between political instability
and tourism. Trying to ascertain reasons behind this, Richter (1983a, 1991), Hall(1989) and
Matthews (1991) point to several related factors accounting for this situation: Firstly, there is an
unwillingness on the part of many decision makers both in government and in the private sector
to acknowledge the political nature of tourism. Secondly, there is a lack of official interest in
conducting research into the politics of tourism. Thirdly, tourism is not regarded as a serious

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scholarly subject. Finally, there are substantial methodological problems in conducting political
and administrative studies.

Nevertheless, Hughes (1984, p19) states that tourism is, by now, too important and
pervasive an activity for governments to ignore. Any government that accepts a degree of
responsibility for the pattern and pace of economic activity of its country must be conscious of
the emergence of the post- industrial society or service economy and for the need to meet the
new challenges of such changes. In agreement, Matthews and Richter (1991, p133) have
provided fertile ground for research by advancing many cogent arguments for the significance of
political science in tourism studies (cited in Poirier 1997, p 675), having identified a
tremendous need to integrate the politics of tourism and social science techniques with the skills
and other training required by practitioners of tourism. (Matthews and Richter 1991, p133)

Therefore, although tourism policy making has tended to concentrate on what

governments should do rather than examing the manner in which decisions have actually been
made, both governments and the private sectors do acknowledge the political nature of tourism
(Hall 1996, p57, 58).

HAS TOURISM BEEN AFFECTED BY POLITICAL INSTABILITY?

Terrorism and political instability are not unrelated (Lea 1996; Wieviorka 1994, cited in
Hall and OSullivan 1996). Wieviorka (1994) uses Lebanon, Italy, and former West Germany as
examples of how political crisis can eventually erupt in terrorism. (Sonmez 1998, p 422) Sonmez
(1998, p 422-423) describes the following cases in countries where tourism has been affected by
terrorism or political unrest.

Effects of political violence

In June 4 1989, China and the world witnessed a forceful suppression of student protests
by the Chinese authority in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. The suppression, aided by military tanks
that were shown to be threatening the civilian population on the prime time news coverage,
soured the international impressions of the Chinese government. These negative opinions
contributed heavily to the decrease of tourism earnings in Beijing by 30 per cent, and overall
earnings of approximately $430 million in that year alone, contributed heavily by the
cancellation of travel plans by 300 tourist groups, which was approximately 11,500 individual
travellers. (Sonmez 1998)

Similar nationalist unrest in Tibet triggered heavier consequences for their tourism
program, punctuated by martial law being declared in March 1989. In 1990 one foreigner was
killed in Kathmandu, as they attempted to photograph a pro-democracy demonstration.
Consequentially, Tibetian tourism industry suffered heavily by this political violence that harmed
and killed innocent people, also having an indirect but significant impact in lowering tourist
levels (Neumayer 2004). From the 22,000 visitors recorded in 1988, but the very next year saw
only 1092 tourist visitation in the first six months being recorded, and a loss of 4.52 million
Yuan reported from the tourism sector (Schwartz 1991 cited in Sonmez 1998, p 423).

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 Effects of Military coup

In Burma, the army general Ne Win took over the government in a coupe detat in 1962.
People engaged in democratic demonstrations in the streets. The army began arresting, detaining,
torturing, conscripting and killing around 10,000 people when the Myanmar people
demonstrated in 1988. Furthermore the army enslaved the Myanmese people for the construction
of infrastructure (Hall 2001). The Sydney Morning Herald 1 June, (1996) mentioned about John
Pilgers documentary called Inside Burma is as a Land of Fear. The documentary showed
children and chain gangs being used as slave labour to build roads, bridges, airports, railways,
the imperial palace in Mandalay and other tourist attractions.

As Travel Asia (1996:n.p, cited in Hall, 2001, p 23) editorialised, it is clear political
events have an impact on tourism from how consumers perceive the country (safe or unsafe) to
whether they feel they should support a regime which does not fall in line with their own
beliefs.

In Fiji, the election of a non-Fijian majority government in 1987 led to two military coups
occurring in a period of four months, May 14th and September 28th. After the May coup there
was an attempted hijacking of an Air New Zealand Boeing 747 at Nadi airport. Aided by
sensational media coverage, the Australian and New Zealand government issued advisories
against travelling and suspensions of NZ flights to Fiji. In mid 1987, the Australian Qantas labor
unions imposed a two-month ban on flights to Fiji, and because the governments travel advice
had lapsed by then, the insurance cover from anything relating to the Fijian situation had been
removed (Sonmez 1998).

In Mexico several hundred people including soldiers, police officials, Apatista rebels and
civilians lost their lives in 12 days of fighting in the indigenous uprising of 1994, the death toll
reaching up to 500 deaths. The assassination of a favoured presidential candidate Luis Donaldo
Colosia in March 1994 agitated the situation further. The location of the coup, San Cristobal in
Chiapas experienced a sharp decline in international and domestic tourism by 70 per cent in
January and February in 1994(Pitts 1996).

Effects of civil war

A political movement with the goal of removing British jurisdiction over Northern
Ireland and unification of the Irish state created the PIRA (Provisional Irish Republican Army) in
1969, a covert armed wing of Sinn Fein. (Ni Aolain 1996, US department of State 1996, cited in
Sonmez 1998). The terrorist activities of PIRA disturbed Irish tourist activity, whose targets
included several senior members of the British government, the British military and the police.
Together with the retaliation of the British forces, the possibility of travelling to Ireland
presented an image of danger and risk. Once again, empirical evidence shows that visitor arrivals
fell from a strong 1,080,000 to 321,000 in just two years between 1967 and 1969. A bomb
explosion in London that killed two and injured 43 shattered the uneasy ceasefire made in
August 1994 and maintained until February 1996. However, during the ceasefire the Northern
Ireland Tourist Board had received a 59 per cent increase in enquiries, 11 percent increase in
hotel occupancy, 68 percent increase in holiday visitors, and an 18 percent increase with out-of-

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state visitors (ONeill and Fitz 1996). In 1996, a hotel near Belfast was bombed in July, however
the situation was neutralised with a second cease-fire ordered a year later in July 1997 (Sonmez
1998, p 422).

The conflict between Yugoslav and Slovenian forces in 1991 spread to Croatia and
Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992, where specialised tour operators in Yugoslavia suffered heavy
losses, including over one million booked tourists. Even two years after the ten-day war, the
figures for Slovenian tourism were still far behind the pre-war figures. The number of total
nights in 1993 was 32 per cent lower than in 1990. (Sonmez 1998).

Effects of Terrorism

A Maoist terrorist group was formed in the late 1960s in Sendero Luminoso, Peru, to
replace the existing Peruvian institutions with a peasant revolutionary regime. This group was
hoping to free Peru from foreign influences (US Department of State 1996 cited in Sonmez
1998), and their attacks caused a significant loss of tourism income from the international
visitors decreasing to 33,000 (1991) from 350,000 (1989).

Similar movement in Turkey created the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in 1974, a
Marxist-Leninist group that wished to establish an independent Marxist state in Southern Turkey.
Since 1991, the PKK had specifically targeted Turkeys tourism industry and local Turkish
forces and civilians. The PKK were going as far as emulating the ETA campaign that warned
foreign companies against sending tourists to Turkey by bombing touristic sites, hotels, and
kidnapping of foreign tourists. The 8 per cent drop of foreign visitor arrivals were overturned in
1996 with the self-imposed ceasefire, reaching a staggering figure of 9.5 million, a record level
of visitors.

And finally, in Egypt, the active movement of the Islamic extremist group Al-Gamaat al-
Islamiya specifically targeted Egypts tourism industry since 1992. With the aim to replace
President Hosni Mubarek and his government with an Islamic state, the group between 1992 and
1995 launched over 120 attacks. 13 tourists were killed, with the last terrorist attack in April
1996 killing a further 18 Greek tourists in Cairo (Sonmez 1998, p 421). Statistics show a 22
percent drop in international visitors, 30 percent decrease of tourist nights and 43 percent
decrease in tourism receipts (Aziz 1995: Wahab 1996, cited Sonmez 1998). Furthermore, the
terrorism crisis meant that Egypt was removed from International tour operators programs.

THE DAMAGING IMPACT OF POLITICAL INSTABILITY ON THE AFFECTED

STATES TOURISM.

Cyprus 1960 to 1991

The study of Clements and Georgiou (1998) in tourism destinations of Cyprus shows
how the nation suffered from increased competition and quality problems. After independence
from Britain in 1960, the Greek Cypriot tourism development began in earnest. A series of five
year development plans emphasized tourism's development potential as an activity that would
boost foreign exchange earnings and encourage economic diversification (Andronikou 1987,

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cited in Ioannides and Apostolopoulos 1999, p53). Initiatives include improving the standard of
hotels and infrastructure such as providing superior airport facilities and promoting the island in
northern European markets (Ioannides and Apostolopoulos 1999, p52). Cyprus had become the
target of increasing demand by tourists. Tourism in Cyprus has been the major economic activity
on the island and an economic miracle because of rapid tourism development (Clements and
Georgiou 1998).
After the invasion by Turkey in 1973-74 with 37 percent of the northern part of the island
under Turkish occupation, the tourism industry became inactive which had been devastating for
the local population. Hostilities had been severe, especially in those areas adjacent to the Green
Line, the border guaranteed and maintained by the UN. Zl (Clements and Georgiou 1998, p287).
The effects of the political and social crises on the island have been witnessed on two occasions
before, between 1974-75 after the Turkish invasion, and in 1990-91 during the Gulf Crisis, when
Cyprus was used as a forward position for attacking Iraq.

The most affected regions were those nearest to the flash points along the Green Line;
areas such as Ayia Napa and Paralimni, which were already experiencing declining tourist
numbers before these more recent events (Clements and Georgiou 1998, p 287). Thus an
adverse effect on the number of foreign visitors. Given the fragile state of the tourism product in
1997, a repeat of any serious conflict could push the tourism industry on the island, both north
and south, into a serious downward spiral at a time when competing destinations in the
Mediterranean are busy developing their tourism products). Clements and Georgiou 1998, p 288)

Iraq, Kuwait 1990

The invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, and with the subsequent invasion of Iraq by a
multinational force in 1990 caused a massive impact on tourist visitation to the Middle East
because of the perceived dangers in the region. There was also a broader impact on international
tourism not only to Iraq but also the whole of Middle East including Jordan due to the fear of
potential terrorist attacks (Clements and Georgiou 1998).

Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia

The break up of Yugoslavia in 1992 and the ongoing conflict between Bosnia, Croatia
and Serbia had devastated tourist visitation in the former federation. Similarly, in the case of Sri
Lanka visitor arrivals are only now approaching the record numbers of 1982 following a decade
of civil war. (Hall 1994, cited in Hall and Osullivan 1996, p 109)

North and South Korea

The negative portrayal of countries by the media with selective information chosen to
label a state has also had a damaging affect on potential tourism development in that country. For
example, in the case of South Korea, the tourism industry has long been harmed by images of the
Korean War and conflicts between North and South Korea, and other events such as the shooting
down of the unarmed Korean civilian Airline flight by a Soviet missile in 1983 (Ricther 1989)
South Korean student protests, and the ongoing political instability in North and South Korea.
The Summer Olympics (1988) in Seoul were perceived as a means to overcome the poor image

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of Korea in the international tourism market as a dangerous place to visit (Jeong 1988, p176,
cited in Hall and Osullivan 1996, p110).

Tibet and China.

When China occupied Tibet, journalists were not permitted to enter the country and
tourists became the only source of information about the turmoil during the unrest. The
formation of a secret network of tourists who gathered information on human rights problems in
order to carry the Tibetans message to the rest of the world shows that by using travel
advisories, governments of tourism generating countries can influence the flow of tourists in
order to wield political power over countries dependent on this trade (Sonmez 1998).

Sub Saharan Africa 1945 to 1985

Several significant incidents of political violence had occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, and
as a consequence overseas tourists avoided the tourist industry of Africa in the center of an
unsafe region during the time that the respective nations were politically unstable (Teye 1986).

The natural and cultural diversity of sub-Saharan Africa represents a substantial potential with
great tourism resources for attracting tourist. The south Luangwa Park in Zambia has over
100,000 elephants, 14,000 hippopotami, 210,000 buffaloes, 2,800 rhinos and 60,000 crocodiles
(Teye 1986, p591). Tanzania and Kenya together have 1.5 million wilder beasts, 250,000 zebras
and millions of other game animals. In Zimbabwe, the Wankie national park and the, great
Zimbabwean ruins, are potentially attractive destination for tourists (Novicki 1983, p 49-53,
cited in Ankomah and Crompton 1990,p 27).

Many countries of sub-Saharan Africa could have made efforts to transfer their tourism
potential into a profitable industry, if not for the political conflicts tearing through many of the
regions. Since World War II, almost all African countries have achieved independence. In
several countries, this decolonisation process has taken the form of long and often bloody
liberation wars (Teye 1986). For example, Zimbabwe (formerly southern Rhodesia) was the
scene of a fifteen years Liberation War of Attrition between Africans and white settlers. Zambia
operated for 15 years under Rodesias international isolation and a United Nations trade sanction.
Civil liberation wars and military coups compound other problems, including unstable political
climates that attracted unfavorable international press coverage, that deteriorate an already
negative image and poor internal security conditions. Most of the evidence on tourists
reluctance to travel these regions, points to fear and insecurity that act as a major barrier which is
often seen as an expression of lack of interest in travel (Ankomah and Crompton 1990).

Angola, Mozambique and Guinea Bissau (former Portuguese Guinea) and the Portuguese
engaged in the longest and in some respects, the most extensive of colonial wars in sub-Saharan
Africa. Nigeria had five successful coups since gaining independence in the 1960, accompanied
by several bloody failures and civil war. In total, more than 20 major wars have taken place on
the sub-Saharan region of Africa since the 1960s (Ankomah and Crompton 1990, p19).

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 Nepal 1990-2002

In another case of a politically unstable environment in Nepal, the liberal king Birendra
Bir Birkram Shah Dev granted the wishes of the people and chose to remain as a constitutional
monarch, During the revolution mass gatherings, demonstrations and protests were ubiquitous;
tourists and notable independent travelers were caught in the struggle as some ventured out on to
the streets to photograph and witness the civil unrest (Thapa 2002, p 9). Political instability
generated negative publicity, which resulted in decreased tourist arrivals. Also the perceived risk
with the South Asian region due to the war in Afghanistan and the strained tensions between
India and Pakistan can largely be credited with negative tourist flows to Nepal (Thapa 2002, p
16).

USING TOURISM AS A TOOL FOR POLITICAL OBJECTIVES

Case of Philippines

Sonmez (1998, p 433) pointed out that tourism could be used as a political weapon by
some countries against others, where governments can and do exert political pressure through
tourism and use it as a promotional vehicle to convey a positive image or as a sanction against
others.

The Philippines provides a good example of some of the problems which political
instability poses for tourism development. When the Philippines became independent from the
United States in 1965, the election of Marcos as the president saw the stumbling of Philippines,
faced with political, economical and natural disasters. Furthermore, the apparent ineptitude and
corrupt regime of Marcos worsened the crisis facing the state. Martial Law was declared in 1972,
with Marcos declaring what was called a new society.(Hall and Oehlers 2000, p 81) It was
during this time that the government, under Marcos, began its massive tourism program. (Ricther
1989) Tourism became a priority industry for the Marcos regime, the use of tourist arrivals as a
form of legitimisation for the regime; using tourists to create a favourable image for the
government, including the perception of a safe place for tourists to visit; manipulating the
tourism development as a means to provide business opportunities for Marcoss supporters. In
short, the government was using tourism as a political tool. (Ricther 1989 cited in Hall and
Oehlers, 2000)

Ironically, it was the failed bombing attempt on Marcos at the 1980 American Society of
Travel Agents Conference that had a dramatic impact on tourist visitation from the USA. One of
the most noticeable things was that the provision and misuse of tourist infrastructure in the
country caused a spill over of effects such as enormous inflation, housing shortages, energy and
water shortages, and mass prostitution (there were over 100,000 prostitutes in Manilla alone).
This turn of events transformed tourism into a political liability for the regime and a source of
controversy, and an avenue for violence (Ricther 1989, p 77).

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 Arab and Israeli Case
Since Israel occupied Palestinian land in 1945, Israeli urban and agricultural settlements
multiplied and, on the whole, prospered. These years also saw the advent of an indigenous Arab-
Palestinian national movement furiously opposed to the establishment of a Jewish national home
in its land. The battle between these two antithetic national movements was fiercely fought in the
streets, in the political arena, and in the economic sphere. It was not always possible to separate
these three areas of conflict, as evident from the two sides strident bid to capture the countrys
new, burgeoning tourist industry (Kobi 2004, p 62).

Israel regarded tourism as an area well worth investing in and fighting over, and not for
simply economic reasons. Palestine also sought to take advantage of this new influx of visitors
hoping to benefit from them not only economically but also politically as well. Local Arabs and
Jews competed over the right to serve tourists and take the opportunity to promote their image of
the land. Kobi (2004, p 62) asserts that the Jews consciously sought to exploit the tourist market
in order to cultivate a Zionist view of Palestine while, at the same time, preventing the Arabs
from marketing their Arab-oriented image of the country.

Thus the competition between Jews and Arabs is evident as many societies and nations
tend to shape their tourism industry. The rules and regulations for the tourism industry are to be
seen in accordance with elected ideologies. These ideologies were designed to promote political
goals and or cultural images. The Arab-Jewish ideological conflict undoubtedly gave added
impetus to the Zionist efforts to break into the local tourist industry. Kobi (2004, p 78) notes that
the Arab-Jewish competition over the countrys tourist industry make it clear that the Zionists,
like the Arabs, regarded tourism and its role in ideologically oriented image-making as an
important means of advancing their political national goals.

THE INFLUENCE OF GOVERNMENT TRAVEL ADVISORIES

One of the side effects of political instability on tourism has been the increasing influence
of government travel advisories on the destination choice of travelers. Travel advisories are
issued or bans are imposed from time to time for political reasons. It is common, for example for
governments to prohibit travel to war zones or to territories of hostile nations in which the
government has no means of protecting the life and property of its citizens (Edgell 1995, p 108).
Particularly the western governments issue regular travel advisories for their citizens warning
them to stay away from certain destinations. Apart from the obvious trouble spots, such as Iraq,
where there is a real threat to the safety of visitors, travel advisories are often criticised for
perceived bias. The opponents of those advisories point to the fact that the threats are often
exaggerated in the case of those destinations where the ruling governments have some type of
diplomatic conflict with the west.

Sonmez (1997). Pointed out the government has a prerogative to issue travel advisories
against countries it chooses- in response to political or environmental occurrence to protect its
own citizens. Also governments can and do exert political pressure through tourism and use it as

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a promotional vehicle to convey a positive image or as a sanction against other countries. For
example cases that invite cynicism of detractors are the approach of the U.S.A. and its allies,
taking drastic action at the slightest provocation in distributing intelligence gathering when it
comes to perceived hostile nations, such as Indonesia Iraq, North Korea and Zimbabwe, while
underplaying similar information in the case of friendly powers such as Pakistan, Egypt and
Saudi Arabia. The travel advisory issued on 13 February 2005 warning Australians to defer non-
essential travel to Indonesia (http://www.smarttraveller.gov,auzwcgi/view/Advice/Indonesia)
seem disconcertingly similar to the one issued by the Government of United States on 12 January
2005( http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_918.html).

This is not to say that travel advisories are just another way to propagate government
propaganda and have little or no objective bases in reality. Western governments, especially,
have been under considerable pressure to disseminate intelligence information about destinations
where there is evidence of anti-western militancy. Bali bombings of 2002 have made the
Australian government vulnerable to both damaging criticism and threats of crippling legal
action when the rumours of prior knowledge of the possibility of a terrorist attack took hold. In
some way, the sensitivity of the government to take intelligence information about Indonesia
more seriously than some other nations could be attributed to this rumour. However, despite the
essential necessity of travel advisories, their potential to do serious harm to a destination cannot
be overestimated. Tourism to Turkey showed an unusually high number of tour and individual
travel cancellations after the UK foreign office and MI5 issued travel warnings on their websites
which received more than 200,000 hits each week (Huband 2003) and the USA government
issued its warning to their citizens about leisure travel to the destination after the two synagogues
and the British embassy were bombed by fundamentalists (Kinzer 2003). Considering that there
were no tourists killed or seriously injured in these incidents and the fact there had been no
visitor casualties in many years leading to the incidents in Turkey, had little effect in softening
the blow dealt by the advisories. The German foreign ministry urged travellers to postpone to
travel to Turkey: until the situation is clarified (Kinzer 2003).

Another anomaly in this sometimes hysterical and often illogical scenario is that the
major travel organisations do not seem to take much notice of government warnings. A general
survey of major travel organisation websites show that they continute to provide up to date travel
news with regard to latest hotel and travel packages promoting blue waters clear skies and white
beaches(see, for example http://www.harveyworldtravel.com.au, http://www.flightcentre.com.au,
http://www.msn.com). Outside an opinion piece about Zimbabwe in the travel section of Yahoo,
there seems little notice taken of various government warnings (http://www.yahoo.com). By
tourist operators, which would seem logical when you consider the fact that the operator
promotes tours for financial gain. The tourist however may take into account the perceived risk
of travelling to destinations that receive government warnings, and therefore choose not to travel
or may alter the travel destination.

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CONCLUSION:

Political instability, civil unrest and war can increase the perception of risk at a
destination (Lepp 2003). Political instability generates negative publicity, which results in the
inevitable decrease in tourist arrivals (Thapa 2003). The risk perception can influence tourist
decision-making and destinations can be severely affected, with substantial negative economic
consequences as tourists substitute their vacation destinations or regions. Richter and Waugh
1986, cited in Thapa 2003, p16) which may take years to overcome. Hall and OSullivans
(1996, p117) view that perception of political instability and safety are a prerequisite for tourist
visitation. is supported by the empirical data gathered on a global scale.

Political stability is of extreme importance to any investment, but it is of special

consequence to tourism because of what is being sold: serenity, leisure, fun and comfort. These
can only be successfully marketed under stable political conditions. Tourist arrivals are a
barometer not only of a nations currency relative to other currencies but also of the safe
perception of a nation (Richer 1994, p 220 cited in Cothran and Cole Cothran, 1998).

Mass media plays a large role in shaping and formulating where certain images of a
destination are portrayed so that it can attract but also detract potential visitors (Hall and
OSullivan 1996, cited in Thapa 2003)

Tourism can also be used as a tool for political and ideological goals, face reform by the
industry of a particularly politically troubled nation. On the other hand, tourism can be moulded
by political purpose, but the manipulation of tourism may result in disadvantage to tourism.
Given the evidence of such prospects facing tourism when it is under such control by political
events and unrest, the policymakers from any tourism destination country need to be aware of
how tourists from major tourism generating countries perceive the relative degree of political
instability that might exist at the designation, and how sensitive tourists are to political instability
(Seddighi, Nuttall and Theocharous 2001 p 189).

Despite the considerable body of evidence on the effects of political instability on both
the tourism income and the potential for negative social and cultural outcomes, tourism
management courses do not include any serious discussion of international politics and its
influence on tourism. The current paper, which is part of an ongoing research into risk
management in tourism, attempts to address that and discusses the ways in which a political
nature of tourism and the impact of politics upon international tourism activity can be
incorporated into tourism management subjects, particularly at postgraduate level.

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