How Do Tourists React to Political Violence? An Empirical Analysis of Tourism in Egypt

42 Pages Posted: 17 Jul 2010

See all articles by David Fielding

David Fielding

University of Otago - School of Business - Department of Economics

Anja Shortland

German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin)

Date Written: June 2010

Abstract

This paper uses a detailed database of political violence in Egypt to study European and US tourists' attitudes towards travelling to a conflict region. We use time series analysis to study the heterogeneous impacts of different dimensions of political violence and counter-violence on tourist flows to Egypt in the 1990s. We find that both US and EU tourists respond negatively to attacks on tourists, but do not appear to be influenced by casualties arising in confrontations between domestic groups. However, European tourists are sensitive to the counter-violence measures implemented by the Egyptian government. There is also evidence of tourism in Egypt being affected by the Israeli / Palestinian conflict, with arrivals of tourists into Egypt rising when fatalities in Israel increase.

Keywords: Tourism, political violence, Egypt

JEL Classification: P48, L83

Suggested Citation

Fielding, David and Shortland, Anja, How Do Tourists React to Political Violence? An Empirical Analysis of Tourism in Egypt (June 2010). DIW Berlin Discussion Paper No. 1022, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1640489 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1640489

David Fielding (Contact Author)

University of Otago - School of Business - Department of Economics ( email )

PO Box 56
Dunedin
New Zealand

Anja Shortland

German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) ( email )

Mohrenstraße 58
Berlin, 10117
Germany

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