International tourism, security and intercultural dialogue in the Arab World

2012

International tourism presents one of the rare possibilities of mass active face-to-face cultural exchange and spatial exploring of the ‘other’. Beyond its cultural dimension, international tourism is a major economic sector in many countries. It provides jobs and foreign currency. One the one hand, tourism is a fragile industry that requires security, stability and tolerance. On the other hand, tourists are soft targets of terrorist attacks, not only in the Arab and Muslim worlds, but indeed worldwide. The article explores the actual and the invented types of segregation in the name of security and terror prevention measures in Arab countries. It demonstrates how the dichotomy of security/…