The war on terror is hitting tourism in this region

When discussing the fight against ISIL, western and Arab leaders should choose their words carefully. The livelihood of millions depends on the way the story is told, argues Taylor Luck

Tourist look out at the ruins of the Karnak Temple in Luxor. Foreign tourism, a major part of Egypt's economy, has been hurt by the unrest and political upheaval. Hassan Ammar / AP Photo

When suicide bombers attempted to detonate at Luxor’s Karnak Temple earlier this month, the brazen attack put the spotlight on the latest, and perhaps greatest victim in the region-wide war on terror.

While several Arab states take part in daily bombing runs to end ISIL’s reign of terror in Iraq and Syria, a growing casualty of the war on terror is tourism.

Unrest and political upheaval in Egypt has hurt the tourism sector, which accounted for 13 per cent of its GDP and generated $12.5 billion (Dh45.9bn) in revenues in 2010. Tourism revenue has since dropped 54 per cent and is forecast to hover around $6 billion this year.

Yet tourism in Egypt experienced its sharpest decline since ISIL’s rise and the launch of coalition air strikes in mid-2014, with overall visitors dropping 24 per cent in the first quarter of 2015 alone.

Despite Egyptian tourism officials’ attempt to portray unrest as strictly “Egyptian-Egyptian” and not “Egyptian-foreigner”, the country has fallen under the umbrella of “no-go” countries for many travellers and is unfairly grouped with Iraq and Syria where jihadists have free rein.

Should the Luxor suicide bombers prove to be linked to a jihadist group, particularly ISIL-affiliated Ansar Bait Al Maqdis or ISIL itself, Egyptian tourism will take even more of a turn for the worse.

The shadow of violence has spread to Tunisia, which largely escaped the political infighting and unrest that has plagued other Arab Spring states. The massacre in March of 20 tourists at Tunis’s Bardo National Museum has threatened the tourism sector in Tunisia, which accounts for 13.8 per cent of all jobs. Tourism officials have already reported mass cancellations by European visitors amid fears that the sector, which accounted for 15.2 per cent of GDP or $6 billion in revenues in 2014, will decline dramatically this year.

Terrorism’s long shadow is even affecting Arab states such as Jordan that have been traditionally free of conflict. Turmoil in neighbouring Iraq and Syria has deterred hundreds of thousands from visiting the peaceful desert kingdom.

Nowhere is the decline in visitor numbers more noticeable than in Petra, the Nabataean rose-red city, which was held up as one of the new seven wonders of the world and as recently as 2009 drew 1 million tourists a year from around the world.

Now, one can spend hours wandering through Petra’s siq, the deep natural gorge formed from a split in the sandstone rocks, and marvel at the rock-carved monuments without bumping into another tourist. Visitors have dropped from 5,000 to a few hundred per day.

Official figures show that Petra visitors dropped by 50 per cent in the first quarter of 2015 as part of a larger decline that has seen overall visitors to Jordan dip from over 8.2 million in 2010 to a projected 4 million this year. The decline has forced 10 hotels in Petra to close in the first few months of the year alone, putting 1,100 Jordanians out of work.

The numbers are symptomatic of a larger crisis of perception.

With graphic images of ISIL beheadings and violence in Syria, Iraq and Libya, the image of most of the Arab world has become one of perpetual conflict.

The concept of a wider regional war against extremism, as if every square inch in the Arab world is part of a contest between the forces of light and darkness, is hurting tourism in a way no physical conflict ever could.

Under the media’s depiction of the “war against extremism” any village in any country may become the next flashpoint and any town home to the next ISIL sleeper cell. For most potential tourists, it is reason enough to write off the entire Arab world altogether.

Both the US and its Arab allies have found themselves faced with a Catch-22 situation: the greater the focus on anti-terror measures, the greater is the focus on terrorism itself. For Arab states that depend on tourism to fill their coffers, it is a costly PR move.

Many countries are hitting back. Tunisia has launched a grass roots social media campaign called “I will come to Tunisia this summer”, which highlights celebrities and others on holiday there and showcases its tourist gems and most importantly, its stability.

In March, Jordan invited travel writers and bloggers to experience for themselves the kingdom’s natural, historic and cultural wonders and is moving to waive visa fees for visitors who stay longer than three days.

Many can learn from the Gulf countries, which are witnessing historic growth in tourist numbers. Countries such as the UAE are experiencing a more than 7 per cent growth in annual tourist arrivals and are looking to grow even further. But much of the Arab world needs more than a public-relations campaign to save the tourism sector. Not only do Arab countries need to change perceptions, they need to change the narrative.

Rather than a region-wide war against terror, Arab leaders should depict the continuing struggle as it truly is – surgical, pre-emptive strikes in troubled neighbours. Extremism is the exception, not the rule.

While jihadist militias threaten thousands in western Iraq and northern Syria, more than 90 per cent of the Arab world is far from their reach.

When discussing the fight against ISIL, both western and Arab leaders should choose their words carefully. The livelihood of millions depends on the way the story is told.

Taylor Luck is a political analyst and journalist in Amman