I remember when I lived in Costa Rica and a town that had been popular with tourists had an incident where a girl was robbed and killed. It pretty much killed the tourism, and everyone started going further south.
But Americans and Brits have to be particularly diligent to beware murderous Jihadists and should think twice before setting a foot down where they might be vulnerable.
“The Morning Briefing” is SmartPlanet’s daily roundup of must-reads from the web. This morning we’re reading about the tourism industry.
1.) Foreign media reports ‘killing Bahrain travel industry‘. Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) tourism committee chairman Nabeel Kanoo believes that unfair reporting and ‘misinformation’ by foreign journalists is destroying Bahrain’s tourism industry, following the temporary suspension of visits to Bahrain by a major cruise operator who cited security concerns. According to the chairman, Bahrain’s hotels and tourism businesses have suffered a 40 percent drop in revenue over the past year.
2.) Brits shun Sri Lanka after death of tourist. Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority statistics state there has been an increase of tourists from western Europe, while tourist arrivals from UK have declined. Compared to last years’ numbers, UK arrivals declined by 14.2 percent in January. It is suspected that the murder of a British tourist last year may be a factor — bringing security and safety issues to light.
3.) Caribbean tourism up in 2011 despite economic problems. Tourism officials from the Caribbean Tourism Organization say the Caribbean saw a small increase in visitors last year despite global economic issues. According to the officials, 23.8 million tourists visited the region in 2011 — a 3.3 percent increase from the following year.
4.) Will medical tourism become the future of Dubai? An interesting piece by Kipp’s asks whether Dubai possesses a steady enough health and medical infrastructure in place to support plans for medical tourism — considering ‘this is a place where a local telco will promise to give you a call on your telephone to address the complaint you logged about your telephone not working’. Medical tourism rates have increased over the last few years as the reason for visiting Dubai.
5.) Tourist safety: Phuket to install 500,000 security cameras. A government spokesman has proposed covering Phuket, Krabi and Phang Nga with 500,000 security cameras as a means of ensuring the safety of tourists and boosting tourism.
Image credit: C.Osborne
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