From the Safaris of East Africa to the Resorts of North Africa, the tourism industry has been floundered by the waves of recent terror attacks. Deadly attacks in Nigeria, Kenya, Tunisia, Egypt and Mali has had great adverse effects to the industry from African perspective. And away from the continent, the recent Paris attacks which consequently forced Brussels into a lockdown for almost a week, also left the industry crumbling to its knees in that part of the world .
According to traveller24, an estimated 29 terror attacks have taken place across the world since June 2015, not to mention the number of foiled plots over the period. Naturally, whenever an attack takes place anywhere or even if a potential attack is suspected to happen, responsible governments advice their respective citizens against travelling to such places. This of course usually results in massive cancellations of hotels and flights bookings thereby significantly faltering the growth of the tourism industry in the affected or targeted destinations.
According to the telegraph, Kenya's visitor numbers have fallen down by 25% over the last two years as a direct result of terrorism. And according to the BBC, the Egyptian tourism ministry has reported that, the industry stands to lose 2.2bn Egyptian pounds ($280m) a month after the cancellation of flights from Russia and Britain as a consequent of the Sinai Plane crash. Meanwhile, Tunisia has seen a drop in visitor numbers of about 20% and several hotels are forced to close down according to the telegraph.
Consequently, Airlines and Tour operators are forced to cancel a lot of bookings and equally issue a lot of refunds to customers. And in some cases, they are even forced to offer some sort of compensations. The loss of revenue propel some travel companies to increase the price of their tour packages to unaffected destinations which will ultimately discourage tourists from travelling.
It is alleged that Thomas Cook Airlines have double their package tours to destination Gambia recently which prompted an on-going petition against them. It is safe to say that such practice by a big company like Thomas Cook is unethical to say the least. We all know that every business is out there to make profit and balance their books, but we also know that every responsible company must be prepared for stormy days.
Thomas Cook should therefore understand that such a practice only brings about a lose-lose situation. Instead of boosting profit, it will instigate loss of revenue because ordinary people will not buy such excessive packages. Moreover, it will damage the company's reputation and negatively impact customer loyalty. And worst of all, the destination concern which desperately hopes to receive more visitors, will only see a decrease in visitor numbers.
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| Sunset at Tanje Fishing Village, Gambia. source: gambiamonitor |
Consequently, Airlines and Tour operators are forced to cancel a lot of bookings and equally issue a lot of refunds to customers. And in some cases, they are even forced to offer some sort of compensations. The loss of revenue propel some travel companies to increase the price of their tour packages to unaffected destinations which will ultimately discourage tourists from travelling.
It is alleged that Thomas Cook Airlines have double their package tours to destination Gambia recently which prompted an on-going petition against them. It is safe to say that such practice by a big company like Thomas Cook is unethical to say the least. We all know that every business is out there to make profit and balance their books, but we also know that every responsible company must be prepared for stormy days.
Thomas Cook should therefore understand that such a practice only brings about a lose-lose situation. Instead of boosting profit, it will instigate loss of revenue because ordinary people will not buy such excessive packages. Moreover, it will damage the company's reputation and negatively impact customer loyalty. And worst of all, the destination concern which desperately hopes to receive more visitors, will only see a decrease in visitor numbers.
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