Responding to Tourists’ Concerns About Safety
Last year, more tourists arrived in the Middle East, a 10% increase compared to the year before--an increase above the world average (6%). However, the total number of tourists that arrived in the Middle East (64 million) was lower than any other region: the Americas (217 million), Europe (713 million), Asia and the Pacific (343 million), and Africa (67 million). While “this remarkable performance reflects the continuous recovery of destinations that suffered setbacks,” many people are still concerned about traveling to the Middle East (and North Africa [MENA]), or are concerned about their loved ones’ safety when they travel there.
What is ‘Safety’?
According to Mohamed and Elseyoufi (2018), “safety refers to protection from threatening, random, unwanted incidents occurring by coincidence and out of a person’s control, such as natural and human disasters.” Taking both environmental factors and human factors into account, there is no 100% safe place on Earth: there are always some precautions you must take no matter where you go. So, how should we address tourists’ concerns about their safety when traveling to MENA?
Correct Misconceptions
Image Source: GirlTalkHQ
Image Source: The National
When fellow Americans heard that I was traveling to Jordan (2014) and Palestine (2017), they immediately would tell me to be careful, essentially because I could get kidnapped or killed by terrorists. But why? In 2017, the US and the UK saw more terrorist attacks than over half of the countries in MENA (see table below). Yet, the US and the UK had some of the most tourist arrivals in the world. Terrorism itself does not seem to be the sole cause for tourists’ concerns; the media shapes how people perceive the Middle East and Muslims. Studies have shown that the way people from MENA and Muslims are portrayed in movies, TV, and the news contributes to Islamophobia and stereotypes about them--mainly as villains (i.e. terrorists), or the men as misogynistic bullies and the women as timid victims. In the United States, many people don’t know much about MENA nor Islam, so the media is their primary source of information.
Here are of the most common misconceptions (that Americans have):
Everyone in the Middle East is Muslim / all Arabs are Muslim
Everyone in the Middle East hates the United States and Europe
Islam is an inherently violent faith, and its practices are harsh/strict
All Muslim women are oppressed and uneducated
Muslims, Christians, and Jews have always been in conflict
Emphasize Your Uniqueness
Many people consider the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to be one homogeneous region, not the diverse region encompassing many countries, each with their own unique culture. When I pressed one person who said they would never travel to the Middle East because they were scared to, they referred to a specific issue in Saudi Arabia. It is common for people to reference Saudi Arabia (sometimes it’s another country) to characterize the whole MENA region. So, by distinguishing your location (city or country), you could possibly dispel some stereotypes and/or address some concerns while promoting your location. I talk more about a creative way to do this in another article.
Research Travel Advisories
Image Source: UK Foreign Travel Advice
Other countries may tell their citizens to ‘exercise increased caution’ in your country or label your location as a ‘higher security risk,’ and they explain why. There are few MENA countries that the US Travel Advisory advises Americans to ‘exercise normal precaution’ and the UK’s foreign travel advice highlights specific areas where they advise British people ‘against all travel’ or ‘against all but essential travel.’ Researching the travel advice/advisories of the countries where your typical visitors come from could help you understand what tourists’ potential concerns are and help you address them.
For example, countries have issued travel warnings about traveling to the United States, citing gun violence--mass shootings in particular. If I were to address someone’s concerns about mass shootings, I could tell them that while one could happen, the public and the police have become increasingly more vigilant to this threat. Recently, potential mass shootings have been prevented because of tips from the public and the swift action of the police. Each country/location may have its problems, but putting them into perspective for tourists and informing them of the solutions could help alleviate tourists’ fears.
Speak their language, or at least hire someone who does.
“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” - Nelson Mandela
See something wrong with this image?
Photo Source: 123RF
This image is lovely, but take a closer look at the Arabic. It seems like 'السلام عليكم' went through a blender. If you speak Arabic, would you want to hire a tour company that had material like this?
Communicating in someone’s native language establishes an indescribable, emotional connection with them, which is good for combating fears. Remember, you are also dealing with the perception of safety, not the objective meaning of safety, so you need to also appeal to people’s emotions. Looking at the Common Sense Advisory’s survey results, there are other reasons for you to speak/write in your tourists’ language:
most (72%) customers browse websites in their own language and would be more likely to purchase something with information in their own language
more than half (56%) of customers said that being able to receive information in their own language is more important than price
If you don’t know another language well, then hire someone who does, and more importantly, hire a professional. Your neighbor’s niece who took a few semesters of French is not going to cut it, especially for marketing materials (e.g. a website) or in emergency situations (e.g. an allergic reaction). In all honesty, there are not many people in non-Arabic-speaking countries who take the time to learn Arabic, so unless your business includes Arabic language learning, you must make an investment in language services.
So, the four main ways you can address tourists’ concerns are:
Correct misconceptions: the hardest item on this list--the only way to correct internalized misconceptions like these is to interact with those who hold them and show them that people in MENA and Muslims are not a stereotype.
Emphasize your uniqueness: a quick way to advertise your country/location while also dispelling the idea that everything and everyone in MENA are the same.
Research travel advisories: people take the advice and warnings issued by their governments very seriously and if you don’t know what that advice/warning is, you can’t create a strategy to respond to them.
Speak their language or at least hire someone who does: miscommunication can be fatal, so language services are a must! Research which languages are most commonly spoken among your tourists or pick at least two or three out of the top spoken languages in the world.
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
For those of you are interested in seeing some statistics about Middle Eastern and North African countries, and major English-speaking countries, you can view the table here! For those who are not interested, please proceed to the comments and social share buttons.