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The problem of terrorism not only is a great challenge for governments, policy-makers and global audience, but also by democracies which are being affected by the economy of fear, these types of movement generates. At some extent, one of the most troubling aspects of terrorism seems to be related to the lay-citizens who press their administrations to accept the principle of “precautionary attack” as a valid mechanism of defense. After the Luxor`s massacre in 1977 where 58 international tourists and 4 policemen were in cold blood murdered, geopolitics changed forever. Nation-states have fomented a much wider process of securitization which consists in the orchestration of different policies in order for First world travellers (US and Europe) to be protected while they are abroad. Unlike other decades, where attacks were perpetrated against politicians, today tourists are targeted so that some separatist cells cause political instability in developed nation-states. As Ambassadors of their cultures, tourists not only are vulnerable for locals, but also appeal to the sense of hospitality where modern nation-state is based. For those states which cannot protect aliens their credibility is undermined.
As the previous backdrop, R. Bianchi (2007) argued that tourism revolves around risk perception, which acts as conducive to the interests of some industrialized nations and to the detriment of the periphery. The ongoing state of insecurity created by the so-called “terrorism” corresponds with a political logic of exclusion and discrimination against otherness. The bridge between tourists from the center and migrant travelers from the periphery has been enlarged. Paradoxically, studies in risk perception themselves threaten the goal of security they encourage. To what extent does terrorism affect the tourism industry?. J. M Castaño (2005) presents the arrival statistics from 2000 to 2003 in some cities that had been targets of terrorist attacks. Questioning the hypothesis that terrorism threatens tourism, he points out that cities as Mombasa, New York, Madrid, London, Bali, and Cairo experienced notable declines in tourism, but they recovered in few months. Terrorism may potentate tourism by means of dark tourism—i.e., terrorism tourism. Castaño argues that tourism as a process is reversible. No matter the original impact on public opinion, given some unspecified time-frame, what today generates scare, tomorrow will entice thousand of tourists. Hotel chains and tourist attraction staff become targets of attacks because they symbolize the strength of an economic order that causes resentment and exclusion. If the West is named as the cause of all suffering, this diminishes the responsibilities of local Arab elites to give their support to colonial powers. Of course, Aziz is not wrong when says tourism is rooted in the logic of capitalism. These attacks may be labeled as forms of protests, to be re-read with a new and much broader lens.