Tourism in Conflict Areas

Abstract

In this article, the workings of tourism in areas of sociopolitical turmoil are critically examined. In so doing the aim is to scrutinize interconnections between tourism, safety, and conflict as I contend that tourism, tourists and the danger generated by ongoing sociopolitical conflicts are intimately connected. The empirical focus is on tourism in Jordan, a country in a region troubled by ongoing conflicts. Fieldwork for this project was carried out in 2009 and 2010. Data were collected from local tourism industry representatives and international tourists in Jordan. Findings indicate that a safety/danger binary is destabilized by industry representatives who operate a “sanitization” process in Jordan meant to erase danger and conflicts from tourism spaces. Tourists in the region also disrupt this binary as they travel to the region in spite of the conflict and downplay violent incidents.