Travel Safety, Terrorism and the Media: The Significance of the Issue-Attention Cycle

Abstract

Terrorist attacks against tourists and tourism infrastructure have long been acknowledged as having significant impacts on travel behaviour. The article examines the impact of the terrorist attacks of the 11 September 2001 in the United States to reflect not only the impact of the media on influencing travel behaviour but also tourism policy, particularly with respect to security issues and government response to crisis. The article does this with respect to the notion of an issue-attention cycle of political attention to policy issues and the manner in which these are played out. Several stages of the cycle are identified and related to the post September 11 aftermath. The cycle suggests that a five stage pattern of policy attention will be followed: pre-problem stage, alarmed discovery and euphoric enthusiasm, realisation of the cost of significant progress, gradual decline of intense public interest and the post-problem stage. The model suggests that current adoption of post September 11 security measures will likely cease to find political support once the perceived terrorist threat receives less attention in the media and, related to this, the voting public.