Abstract:
Tourism is one of the largest sectors in the world; it is also one of the first to take a hit when terrorist attacks happen. Terrorism data has become more important to the tourism and travel industry since the attacks on September 11, 2001. The purpose of the study was to determine the impacts of terrorism on the tourism industry, using west gate mall attack as the case study. The study was guided by four main objectives which include: to examine the extent to which terrorism leads to the decline in tourist arrivals, to find out the extent to which terrorism activities lead to loss of jobs and unemployment in tourism businesses, to evaluate the effects of travel advisories on tourism destination image, to examine the extent to which terrorism leads to reduced income and profitability for tourism businesses. The research will be of importance to the government in policy making and planning, it will also help the tourism industry in managing risks that may arise in the event of terror attack. The research used case study research design, using questionnaires and interviews as tools. The research found out that terrorism has an impact on employment rates and profitability of the tourism businesses, it was also noted that travel advisories issued in the event of a terror attack have a negative impact on a tourism destination. Terrorism also leads to decline in the number of tourist arrivals in a destination due to fear of being attacked. Terrorism also leads to reduced income in the tourism industry due to reduced business. The research recommended some of the steps to be undertaken so as to curb terrorism they include; promote public awareness on how to mitigate impacts of terrorism. how to mitigate impacts of terrorism, government should come up with initiatives to reduce or mitigate terrorism, media also should help in restoring tourism destination after a threat or after the act itself through advertising, tourism businesses should come up with crisis and risk management plan strategies to deal with terrorism threat or attack. Incident such as the Nairobi West gate Shopping mall terrorist attack implies that a society could simply lose its value and importance and hence counter measures and policies need to be put in place to help a destination regain its image other than that it can create fear among tourist and damage the peaceful image of Nairobi and Kenya as a whole. Since terrorism has an international phenomenon, solutions towards it thus need global cooperation.
