The irony is, we now act as if by remote when a terror attack strikes. How did we come to this, to accept that terrorism is ‘the new normal’? Terrorism is not normal, full stop. The greatest danger is when we accept it as normal.
The irony is, we now act as if by remote when a terror attack strikes. How did we come to this, to accept that terrorism is ‘the new normal’? Terrorism is not normal, full stop. The greatest danger is when we accept it as normal.Recent history has shown that when the smell of danger lurks in a destination, the MICE market is one of the first to take flight.
Thus, it’s unsurprising that 18 hours after a bomb detonated at the Erawan shrine in Bangkok’s tourist-thronged Rajprasong area, deep in their hearts, after the shock had sunk in, Thailand DMCs knew this was not going to be good for business.
Why, even without so much of a terror attack, just a military coup as we saw in May last year, Bangkok had lost conferences that were looking to be firmed up in the city while major events that were too late in the day to be cancelled had scaled back enormously. What more an attack that looked every bit designed to hurt tourists. That’s why the shock: Thailand has survived a dozen military coups over several decades, and gut-wrenching anti-government riots and protests since 2009 yet, the kingdom has always prided itself that virtually no tourist was hurt. All that changed on August 17, 2015.
But here’s the thing: the day after the bombing, life was almost back to normal in Bangkok. Hotels and DMCs worked through the night of the tragedy to execute emergency plans, account for guests and staff, and make them feel safe and comfortable. There was a sense of order amid a chaotic situation and in spite of the shock.
The irony is, we now act as if by remote when a terror attack strikes. How did we come to this, to accept that terrorism is ‘the new normal’? Terrorism is not normal, full stop. The greatest danger is when we accept it as normal.
Terrorism, as James Reed, CEO/group managing director of Destination Asia, told me “will be THE challenge of the future for the travel industry, be it family holidays, MICE programmes and even cruises. How we address it will also be THE challenge of the generation of leaders of world travel in the next 20 years.”
Our industry is not in a position to fight terrorism, this I understand. But I think authorities that aim to be the voice of travel & tourism – the likes of WTTC, UNWTO, PATA, etc – can do more than just send out predictable, if not inane, condolence and regret messages in the wake of a terror attack.
WTTC, for instance, focused its summit in April this area around technological disruptions and reinventions – why not terrorism and travel? Travel & tourism should start discussing and understanding terrorism deeply and openly. Only then can we really find ways how we can play a part, no matter how small, in safeguarding our assets and people.
