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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 world’s 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 world’s 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 traveller’s decision to visit any foreign destination is that country’s 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 prerequisites 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 O’Sullivan 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 prosperity…the political aspects of tourism are interwoven with its economic consequences...tourism is not only a continuation of politics but an integral part of the world’s 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 O’Sullivan 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 d’etat 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 Pilger’s 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 government’s 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 (O’Neill 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 1960’s 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 Worker’s 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 Turkey’s 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-Gama’at alIslamiya specifically targeted Egypt’s 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 STATE’S 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, 5

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 O’sullivan 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 O’sullivan 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 Rodesia’s 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 Marcos’s 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 ArabPalestinian 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 country’s 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 country’s 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 nonessential 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 O’Sullivan’s (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 nation’s 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 O’Sullivan 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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