Should terror attacks stop us from travelling?
The world today is in a state of flux. Fluctuations in political and social equations are beginning to affect people. I felt the tremors right under my feet when flight disruptions following the Arab diplomatic crisis put a stop to my Eid holiday plans. It is an irony that as the internet opened up in the 2000s making travel to distant places a breeze, the world began to build boundaries. And people around the world started asking the question how safe a place is to travel. If one were to put a date to the transformation it should be 9/11. It was a moment that instilled fear and suspicion among travel enthusiasts And we hit the brakes on our momentum to discover faraway lands.
That the world has changed many shades darker is a definite dampener. But the good news is that the fears have not affected the millenials. Despite the restrictions and the fears, travel continues to get the top billing in their annual leisure plans. Even as countries like the US impose travel bans and gadget curbs, these people stuff their backpacks and set out in search of newer adventure and experience. Caution and wariness have become part of their plan just as multiple security checks have.
According to data provided by the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, 2016 saw some 46 million more tourists travelling internationally compared to 2015. The outlook for 2017 remains robust with projections indicating worldwide tourist arrivals to grow at a rate of 3-4 per cent. While the figures do not speak much to the individual traveler whose immediate concern is security, it is a positive pointer to the fact that the world hasn’t come to a standstill. These figures add to the collective confidence that we, global citizens, are ready to face a world filled with uncertainties.
Every time there is an attack, flights get cancelled
The media, on its part, is fanning public fear in the name of dissemination of news, making humanity think the world is now a fortress of cloistered chambers. Far from it.
and alerts and advisories become incumbent. A ripple effect is inevitable. Sooner or later, we spread the map to mark the places less prone to terrorist onslaughts. But then again who can predict where they will strike next just as they did in Nice last year and Manchester recently. So, which place is safe for travel? Well, the answer is all or none.
Despite the nature of danger as we perceive it now, the chances of our getting caught in a terrorist situation is as remote or as close to being hit by a speeding vehicle. The media, on its part, is fanning public fear in the name of dissemination of news, making humanity think the world is now a fortress of cloistered chambers. Far from it.
Of course, by no means can we fully fathom the trauma of those affected by war and terrorism, nor can we lighten the gravity of the situation prevailing in targeted societies, but should that restrict our freedom to travel?
It is heartening to note that certain targets of terror attacks have bounced back after a brief lull, buoyed by the resilience of the local population and the resoluteness of tourists. Can we avoid conflict zones and areas delimited by controls? Beyond that, can people stop visiting London because of the twin incidents? Can Paris stop being the romantic city? Will we refrain from stepping out of our sheltered confines and end our search for varied experiences? No, we will not.
According to the Global Terrorism database, what we are seeing now is only a fraction of the thousands of terror attacks seen in the 70s, 80s and 90s. It’s just that the din around them wasn’t this amplified and frightening. Safety as a pre-condition has become relative, and confidence is a subjective proposition. The path to new destinations on earth today lies between the two.
Asha Iyer Kumar is a writer based in Dubai