Tourism and War

This is the first volume to explore fully the complex relationship between war
and tourism by considering its full range of dynamics; including political, psychological, economic and ideological factors at different levels, in different political
and geographical locations. Issues of peace and tourism are dealt with insofar as
they pertain to the effects of war on tourism that emerge after the cessation of
hostilities. The book therefore reveals how not only location, but also political
strategies, accidents of history, transportation linkages and economic expediency
all have played their role in the development and continuation of tourism before,
during, and after wartime. It further shows how the effects of war are seldom if
ever simply a negation or reversal of the effects of peace on tourism.
The volume draws on a range of examples, from medieval times to the present,
to reveal the multi-faceted development of tourism amidst and because of conflict in a wide variety of locations, including the Pacific, Europe, the Middle East,
North America, Africa and South East Asia, showing the diverse ways in which
tourism and war interacts. In doing so it explores how some locations have been
developed as tourist attractions primarily because of war and conflict, e.g. as resting and training places for troops, and others flourished because of the threat of
danger from conflicts to more traditional tourist locations.
This thought provoking volume contributes to the understanding of the interrelationships between war, peace and tourism in many different parts of the world at
different scales. It will be valuable reading for all those interested in this topic as
well as dark tourism, battlefield tourism and heritage tourism.
Richard Butler is Emeritus Professor at in the Strathclyde Business School of
Strathclyde University, Glasgow, Scotland.
Wantanee Suntikul is Assistant Professor in Tourism Planning and Development
at the Institute for Tourism Studies in Macao, China.

Contemporary Geographies of Leisure,

Tourism and Mobility
Series Editor: C. Michael Hall,
Professor at the Department of Management,
College of Business and Economics, University of Canterbury,
Christchurch, New Zealand

The aim of this series is to explore and communicate the intersections and
relationships between leisure, tourism and human mobility within the social
sciences.
It will incorporate both traditional and new perspectives on leisure and tourism
from contemporary geography, e.g. notions of identity, representation and culture,
while also providing for perspectives from cognate areas such as anthropology,
cultural studies, gastronomy and food studies, marketing, policy studies and political economy, regional and urban planning, and sociology, within the development
of an integrated field of leisure and tourism studies.
Also, increasingly, tourism and leisure are regarded as steps in a continuum of
human mobility. Inclusion of mobility in the series offers the prospect to examine
the relationship between tourism and migration, the sojourner, educational travel,
and second home and retirement travel phenomena.
The series comprises two strands:
Contemporary Geographies of Leisure, Tourism and Mobility aims to address
the needs of students and academics, and the titles will be published in hardback
and paperback. Titles include:
1

The Moralisation of Tourism

Sun, sand . . . and saving the
world?
Jim Butcher

The Ethics of Tourism

Development
Mick Smith and Rosaleen Duffy

3 Tourism in the Caribbean

Trends, development, prospects
Edited by David Timothy Duval
4 Qualitative Research in Tourism
Ontologies, epistemologies and
methodologies
Edited by Jenny Phillimore and
Lisa Goodson

The Media and the Tourist

Imagination
Converging cultures
Edited by David Crouch,
Rhona Jackson and
Felix Thompson

Tourism and Global

Environmental Change
Ecological, social, economic and
political interrelationships
Edited by Stefan Gssling and
C. Michael Hall

Cultural Heritage of Tourism in

the Developing World
Edited by Dallen J. Timothy and
Gyan Nyaupane

8 Understanding and Managing

Tourism Impacts
An integrated approach
C. Michael Hall and
Alan Lew
9 An Introduction to Visual
Research Methods
in Tourism
Edited by Tijana Rakic and
Donna Chambers
10 Tourism and Climate Change
Impacts, adaptation and
mitigation
C. Michael Hall, Stefan Gssling
and Daniel Scott

Routledge Studies in Contemporary Geographies of Leisure, Tourism and

Mobility is a forum for innovative new research intended for research students
and academics, and the titles will be available in hardback only. Titles include:
1

Living with Tourism

Negotiating identities in a Turkish
village
Hazel Tucker

Tourism, Diasporas and Space

Edited by Tim Coles and
Dallen J. Timothy

Tourism and Postcolonialism

Contested discourses, identities
and representations
Edited by C. Michael Hall and
Hazel Tucker

Tourism, Religion and Spiritual

Journeys
Edited by Dallen J. Timothy and
Daniel H. Olsen
Chinas Outbound Tourism
Wolfgang Georg Arlt

6 Tourism, Power and Space

Edited by Andrew Church and
Tim Coles
7 Tourism, Ethnic Diversity and
the City
Edited by Jan Rath
8 Ecotourism, NGOs and
Development
A critical analysis
Jim Butcher
9 Tourism and the Consumption
of Wildlife
Hunting, shooting and sport
fishing
Edited by Brent Lovelock
10 Tourism, Creativity and
Development
Edited by Greg Richards and
Julie Wilson

11 Tourism at the Grassroots

Villagers and visitors in the
Asia-Pacific
Edited by John Connell and
Barbara Rugendyke
12 Tourism and Innovation
Michael Hall and Allan Williams
13 World Tourism Cities
Developing tourism off the
beaten track
Edited by Robert Maitland and
Peter Newman
14 Tourism and National Parks
International perspectives on
development, histories and
change
Edited by Warwick Frost and
C. Michael Hall
15 Tourism, Performance and the
Everyday
Consuming the Orient
Michael Haldrup and Jonas
Larsen
16 Tourism and Change in Polar
Regions
Climate, environments and
experiences
Edited by C. Michael Hall and
Jarkko Saarinen
17 Fieldwork in Tourism
Methods, issues and reflections
Edited by C. Michael Hall

20 Volunteer Tourism
Theoretical frameworks and
practical applications
Edited by Angela Benson
21 The Study of Tourism
Past trends and future directions
Richard Sharpley
22 Childrens and Families
Holiday Experience
Neil Carr
23 Tourism and National Identity
An international perspective
Edited by Elspeth Frew and
Leanne White
24 Tourism and Agriculture
New geographies of consumption,
production and rural
restructuring
Edited by Rebecca Torres and
Janet Momsen
25 Tourism in China
Policy and development since
1949
David Airey and King Chong
26 Real Tourism
Practice, care, and politics in
contemporary travel culture
Edited by Claudio Minca and
Tim Oakes

18 Tourism and India

A critical introduction
Kevin Hannam and Anya
Diekmann

27 Last Chance Tourism

Adapting tourism opportunities in
a changing world
Edited by
Raynald Harvey Lemelin,
Jackie Dawson and
Emma Stewart

19 Political Economy of Tourism

A critical perspective
Edited by Jan Mosedale

28 Tourism and Animal

Ethics
David A. Fennell

29 Actor Network Theory and

Tourism
Ontologies, methodologies and
performances
Edited by Ren van der Duim,
Gunnar Thr Jhannesson and
Carina Ren

32 Slum Tourism
Edited by Fabian Frenzel,
Malte Steinbrink and
Ko Koens

30 Liminal Landscapes
Travel, experience and spaces
in-between
Edited by Hazel Andrews and
Les Roberts

34 Tourism and War

Edited by Richard Butler and
Wantanee Suntikul

31 Tourism in Brazil
Environment, management and
segments
Edited by Gui Lohmann and
Dianne Dredge

33 Medical Tourism
Edited by Michael Hall

35 Sexuality, Women and

Tourism
Cross border desires through
contemporary travel
Susan Frohlick

Forthcoming:
1

Gender and Tourism

Social, cultural and spatial
perspectives
Cara Atchinson

Backpacker Tourism and

Economic Development in the
Less Developed World
Mark Hampton

Adventure Tourism
Steve Taylor, Peter Varley,
Tony Johnson

Dark Tourism and Place

Identity
Elspeth Frew and Leanne White

Scuba Diving Tourism

Kay Dimmcock and Ghazali Musa

Travel, Tourism and Green

Growth
Min Jiang, Terry DeLacy and
Geoffrey Lipman

Tourism and War

Edited by Richard Butler and

Wantanee Suntikul

First published 2013

by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
c 2013 Richard Butler and Wantanee Suntikul

The right of the editor to be identified as the author of the editorial material,
and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance
with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tourism and war/edited by Richard Butler and Wantanee Suntikul.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. TourismPolitical aspects.
2. TourismPsychological aspects.
3. War and society.
I. Butler, Richard. II. Suntikul, Wantanee.
G155.A1T58914 2012
306.4819dc23
2012005540
ISBN: 978-0-415-67433-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-10770-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Sunrise Setting Ltd

Contents

List of figures
List of plates
List of tables
List of contributors
Acknowledgements

xii
xiii
xiv
xv
xvii

Introduction
1 Tourism and war: an ill wind?

RICHARD BUTLER AND WANTANEE SUNTIKUL

2 Tourism, war, and political instability: territorial and religious

perspectives

12

DALLEN J. TIMOTHY

3 From the Vietnam War to the

war on terror: tourism and the martial fascination

26

SCOTT LADERMAN

PART I

Historic links

37

4 The Crusades, the Knights Templar, and Hospitaller: a

combination of religion, war, pilgrimage, and tourism enablers

39

EUAN BEVERIDGE AND KEVIN OGORMAN

5 The English tourist and war, 15001800

JOHN TOWNER

49

x Contents
6 War and tourism: the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

64

JOHN K. WALTON

PART II

Tourism before and during war

75

7 Tourism shaped by war: the unusual evolution of tourism in

the far Northwest of North America

77

K. S. COATES AND W. R. MORRISON

8 Thai tourism and the legacy of the Vietnam War

92

WANTANEE SUNTIKUL

9 Tourism in a neutral country surrounded by war: the case of

Switzerland

106

HANSRUEDI MLLER AND ANNA AMACHER HOPPLER

PART III

Tourism under threat of war

119

10 Living with war: the Korean truce

121

TIMOTHY JEONGLYEOL LEE AND EUN-JUNG KANG

11 Developing tourism alongside threats of wars and atrocities:

the case of Israel

132

SHAUL KRAKOVER

12 Palestine: tourism under occupation

143

RAMI ISAAC

PART IV

Tourism, war and the aftermath

159

13 An ironic paradox: the longitudinal view on impacts of the

1990s homeland war on tourism in Croatia

161

SANDA CORAK, VESNA MIKACIC, AND IRENA ATELJEVIC

14 Tourism in Northern Ireland: before violence, during and post

violence

176

STEPHEN W. BOYD

15 Echoes of the Great Pacific Conflict: Australias regional war

tourism dividend
DAVID WEAVER

193

Contents xi
16 Soldiers, victims and neon lights: the American presence in
post-war Japanese tourism

205

JERRY EADES AND MALCOLM COOPER

PART V

Tourism and war remembrance

219

17 From Hastings to the Ypres salient: battlefield tourism and the

interpretation of fields of conflict

221

STEPHEN MILES

18 Civil war tourism: perspectives from Manassas National

Battlefield Park

232

MARGARET DANIELS, PETER DIEKE, AND MARIELLE BARROW

19 Revisiting the war landscape of Vietnam and tourism

245

JOSEPH LEMA AND JEROME AGRUSA

20 War, heritage, tourism, and the centenary of the Great War in

Flanders and Belgium

254

DOMINIQUE VANNESTE AND KENNETH FOOTE

Conclusion
21 Reflections on the Great War centenary: from warscapes to
memoryscapes in 100 years

273

MYRIAM JANSEN-VERBEKE AND WANDA GEORGE

22 Conclusion

288

RICHARD BUTLER AND WANTANEE SUNTIKUL

Index

295

List of figures

5.1 A summary of the main wars in Europe 15001800

7.1 Northern development during World War Two
8.1 Seven Airbases constructed in Thailand for use by the US Air
Force during the US/Vietnam War
9.1 Development of overnight stays in Swiss hotels and spa houses
18901960
9.2 Development of arrivals 19101960
9.3 The available bed capacity
9.4 Percentage occupancy rate
10.1 Map of the Korean DMZ
11.1 Number of visitors to Israel, 19481980
11.2 Number of visitors to Israel, 19802010
12.1 Tourists overnight stay in Palestine (MOTA 2008)
12.2 Division of the Governorate of Bethlehem
12.3 Gilo 300 terminal, Bethlehem
12.4 Internal structure of Gilo 300 terminal
13.1 The effect of the war on tourist overnight stays in Croatia,
19892009
13.2 The level of satisfaction with the main elements of tourist supply
in Croatia, 1994 and 2010
14.1 Violence spectrum
18.1 Map of Manassas National Battlefield Park
18.2 Logo of Virginia Civil War Trails
18.3 Logo of Civil War sesquicentennial
20.1 The Western Front, 19141918, stretching across Belgium and
France
20.2 Belgian and Flemish policy and government layers involved in
planning for the centenary based on interviews, reports and
websites
20.3 Inventory of sites from the Great War in the Westhoek (Belgium)
and their cultural and touristic valorization
20.4 Schematic of themes

54
83
96
108
109
110
111
124
137
138
148
154
155
156
167
172
177
234
241
241
255

259
261
262

List of plates

12.1
12.2
12.3
12.4
14.1
14.2a
14.2b
14.3
18.1
18.2
18.3
20.1
21.1
21.2
21.3
21.4
21.5

Entrance to Bethlehem
The Wall around Rachels Tomb area
The Wall annexing Rachels Tomb area to Jerusalem
The Wall running through Bethlehem
Construction of Titanic Visitor Attraction; picture taken nine
months prior to its planned opening in April 2012
Mural in East Belfast depicting a distinct paramilitary
organisation involved in the Troubles
Mural in East Belfast depicting that the struggle is one beyond
the conventional Troubles period
End gable in East Belfast depicting a Titanic mural, selling the
story that it was built in Belfast
Living history
Reenactment
Reenactment
French Military Cemetery Kemmelberg. The design from the
Remembrance Park project (left) and the current situation (right)
War heritage landscapes: trenches in Flanders Field
Global memoryscapes
Memorial site Last post ceremony Menin Gate Ypres
Flanders
Great War tours since 1918
The poppies souvenir industry

150
151
152
153
184
187
188
190
238
238
239
265
276
277
278
282
283

List of tables

11.1 Countries contributing most visitors to Israel, 2010

11.2 Visitors to Israel by religion, purpose of trip, and repeat visitors,
2010
13.1 Tourist accommodation facilities and tourist overnight stays in
Croatia by regions, 19751989
13.2 Occupancy rate of the tourist accommodation facilities in
Croatia, 19892010 (in days)
13.3 The effect of the war on tourist overnight stays in Croatia,
19892009
13.4 Tourist accommodation facilities and tourist overnight stays in
Croatia, 19892010
13.5 15 leading international tourist markets in Croatia, 19872010
(% share in bed-nights)
13.6 The level of satisfaction with the main elements of tourist supply
in Croatia, 1994 and 2010
14.1 Visitor numbers and expenditure between 1959 and 1969
14.2 Visitor accommodation stock between 1972 and 1989
14.3 Total visitor figures and revenue: select years between 1973 and
1989
14.4 Visitors to Northern Ireland and revenue generated (19952007)
15.1 Major campaigns, battles and other events involving Australians
17.1 Visitor numbers: British and Western Front battlefield visitor
centres 2009/10 (except where stated)
17.2 Interpretative tools at the four historic British battlefield sites
17.3 Main characteristics of the Historic and Western Front
battlefield sites
22.1 A continuum of war tourism attitudes towards war heritage

135
136
164
166
168
169
170
173
178
178
179
183
199
223
225
226
292

List of contributors

Jerome Agrusa Hawaii Pacific University, Honolulu, USA

Irena Ateljevic Institute for Tourism, Zagreb, Croatia
Marielle Barrow George Mason University, Virginia, USA
Euan Beveridge University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
Stephen W. Boyd University of Ulster, Londonderry, UK
Richard Butler University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
Ken Coates University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada
Malcolm Cooper Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Beppu, Japan
Sanda Corak Institute for Tourism, Zagreb, Croatia
Margaret Daniels George Mason University, Virginia, USA
Peter Dieke George Mason University, Virginia, USA
Jerry Eades Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Beppu, Japan
Kenneth Foote University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado, USA
Wanda George Mount St Vincent University, Halifax, Canada
Anna Amacher Hoppler University of Berne, Berne, Switzerland
Rami Isaac NHTV, University of Applied Sciences, Breda, The Netherlands
Myriam Jansen-Verbeke Katholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Eun-Jung Kang Jeju National University, South Korea
Shaul Krakover Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
Scott Laderman University of Minnesota, Duluth, USA
Timothy Jeonglyeol Lee Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Beppu, Japan
Joseph Lema Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA

xvi List of contributors

Vesna Mikacic Institute for Tourism, Zagreb, Croatia
Stephen Miles University of Glasgow, Dumfries, UK
W. R. Morrison University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George,
Canada
Hansruedi Mller University of Berne, Berne, Switzerland
Kevin OGorman University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
Wantanee Suntikul Institute for Tourism Studies, Macao, China
Dallen J. Timothy Arizona State University, Phoenix, USA
John Towner Private Scholar, Bath, UK
Dominique Vanneste Katholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
John K. Walton University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Bilbao, Spain;
Ikerbasque, the Basque Foundation for Science
David Weaver Griffith University, Queensland, Australia

Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge first the contributions of our fellow authors in this volume. We very much appreciate their chapters and particularly their cooperation,
understanding and patience at times with our request for details and modifications.
Their breadth of viewpoint and detailed knowledge of their very different subject
matter has provided us with a unique and wide ranging assessment of the subject
of the volume. Where we have made editorial adjustments we hope they find these
acceptable and do not feel that we have exceeded our roles. Errors and mistakes
remain our responsibility.
We also wish to thank the staff at Routledge (Taylor & Francis) for their
patience and support throughout the preparation and submission of the manuscript,
and in particular Carol Barber for her continued encouragement and willingness
to tolerate some delays.
Finally we thank our families, who inevitably have had to put up with disappearances, frustrations and the usual range of emotions and problems that are part
of completing an edited book. Their encouragement and assistance made the task
both bearable and successful.

1 Tourism and war

An ill wind?
Richard Butler and Wantanee Suntikul

Memories of the Battle (of Arnhem)

Thanks to public interest the socio-economic value of the battle is enhanced annually. Is it appropriate, however, to utilise a military debacle in which many lost their
lives, for tourist purposes? Or will this utilisation in conjunction with the increasing number of public visits aid in ensuring an everlasting memory?
Marisa van Rijs (NHTV Breda) recorded
in The Airborne Museum Oosterbeek.

The quotation above is to be found in the Airborne Museum at Oosterbeek in

Holland, the site of the British Airborne Brigades landings in 1944 in the battle for
the Bridge Too Far at Arnhem. It comes from a Breda University student study
which is held in the publications room of the museum. It is a highly applicable
citation with which to begin this volume and raises a still unanswered question
over the relationship between the costs and sacrifices of war and the response of
the public in terms of tourism to war-related locations.

Introduction
Tourism is generally regarded as a phenomenon that needs peace in order to flourish. Over the last two decades or more tourism increasingly has been proposed
as playing an important part in the promotion of understanding among different
nations and cultures and hence as a force for world peace (DAmore 1988; Jafari
1989; Salazar 2006; Moufakkir and Kelly 2010). However, tourism has continued to exist in times of war as well as peace, and it is possible to find locations
where tourism has benefited in times of war just as other areas have suffered. The
examination of specific aspects of war-related tourism at different levels in many
political and geographical locations has not been given due importance in the literature to date. Indeed the literature on war and tourism is limited to a few articles
(for example: Smith 1988; Seaton 1999; Henderson 2000, 2007; Lee 2006; Weaver
2011; Winter 2009, 2011), one special issue of a journal (International Journal of
Tourism Research 2006) and even fewer books (for example Lennon and Foley
2000; Ryan 2007; Sharpley and Stone 2010).

2 R. Butler and W. Suntikul

This volume takes as its focus the complex and dynamic set of relationships
between tourism and war, involving political, psychological, economic, ideological and spatial elements and demonstrates how not only location, but also political
strategies, accidents of history, transportation linkages, and economic expediency
have played their role in the development and continuation of tourism in affected
locations before, during, and after wartime. The examples discussed in the volume
range from medieval times to the present and reveal the multi-faceted development
of tourism amidst, and because of, conflict in a wide variety of locations, including
the Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, North America, and South East Asia.
War can be seen as both a hindrance or constraint and as a boon for tourism,
depending on the location of a destination, while peace allows the expansion of
tourism into areas previously restricted or too dangerous during periods of conflict.
The heritage of war is a powerful attraction in its own right, not just for its curiosity or vicarious excitement, but also for pilgrimage and heritage reasons. Ancient
battlefields and burial grounds evoke strong personal emotions among descendents
of those who fought and died at such places and also amongst those who survived
those battles and wish to revisit such locations. Ryans Battlefield Tourism (2007)
discusses such tourism to battlefields and the meanings and characteristics of the
sites involved. On the other hand, places which developed because previous alternative destinations were no longer accessible because of war may quickly become
unattractive when those restrictions cease to exist and thus struggle to survive as
destinations in the present day.
War-related tourism dates back a considerable time. Local populations often
went to view points to watch battles at least as far back as the seventeenth century,
and sometimes paid the price as casualties. Visits to scenes of war such as the
battlefield of Waterloo have been visited from shortly after the battle (1815) to
the present, even if little has been written on such practices. It was certainly well
practiced before ORourke used the phrase as cited in Wikipedia.
The entire concept of war tourism was started by a collection of stories by P. J.
ORourke in Holidays in Hell: In Which Our Intrepid Reporter Travels to the
Worlds Worst Places. ORourke was the first person who showed that war
correspondents are after all war tourists of sorts on a payed (sic) and planned
account.
(http://www.copperwiki.org/index.php/War_Tourism#References)
Despite the inaccuracy of this statement, however, it does suggest that the concept is not well known and this is supported by the fact that academic interest in
the relationship between tourism and war is relatively recent and not extensive, as
noted above.
This and subsequent chapters build on earlier literature to identify the relationships between war and tourism and focus discussion on the identification of
specific themes reflecting the nature of the situations that arise before, during and
after war. These include anticipation or phoney war, preparation for war, conflict, occupation, neutrality, and aftermath, including remembrance and the nature

Tourism and war 3

of tourism in each of these situations. The volume concludes with a justification of
the need for a closer examination of the complex relationship between war, peace,
and tourism, a relationship which is constantly changing in the unstable areas of
the globe, and which is often viewed through very inaccurate lenses.

Myths and inaccurate perceptions

It is necessary to move away from the simplistic idea that war and tourism are
always in opposition, and that an outbreak of war automatically results in a decline
or cessation of tourism. This is often far from the case and the effects of war
on tourism are far more complex and both negative and positive. The idea of
tourism a vital force for peace has been published and often accepted in the
tourism literature for almost a quarter of a century since it first appeared in Tourism
Management (DAmore 1988). Since then, tourism and peace have been linked as
not only mutually beneficial, but also mutually dependent to varying degrees. It is
widely accepted that peace is necessary for tourism to exist and flourish, and it is
argued also that tourism can play a role in bringing about peace and the ending
of hostilities. The case of the Korean Peninsula is the most often quoted example (Lee 2006; Rideaux et al. 2010), whereby tourism has frequently been argued
to be an important factor in thawing relations between the two Korean governments and a way to increase communication and dialogue between them. This
has been shown to be true only to a limited degree, for, despite a truce lasting
almost fifty years, and a number of tourism development proposals and actual
development, true (formal) peace does not yet exist in this area and flows of
tourists across the truce line have ceased again (Lee and Kang, this volume). In
the Middle East, despite extensive tourism development in many countries (particularly Egypt, the Emirates, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and most recently Libya,
Tunisia, and Yemen) one could hardly describe the region as peaceful, even if formal warfare (depending on ones definition of the term) is not being conducted
there.
The countervailing position, that tourism can exist during war, is true to a degree
also, but tourism rarely exists in the same location at the same time as a war is
being conducted. The world has seen, however, that despite hostilities such as the
Gulf Wars, the Afghanistan conflict, and the Arab Spring in North Africa, tourism
at the global level has continued almost unabated. Wars, like natural disasters,
tend to have local not global effects and these are rarely long term (Mansfield and
Pizam 2006). In the past decade the only times that international tourism at the
global scale has ceased its otherwise continuous growth have been briefly after
9/11 and more recently as a result of the global economic crisis. Even then, it can
be argued that tourism has not declined overall, with growth in domestic tourism
replacing short term slight declines in international tourism, the media created
staycations substituting for vacations. Thus we may conclude that tourism at
the world scale, including both domestic and international forms of the activity, is
virtually impervious to anything mankind is capable of doing short of true global
war or Armageddon.

4 R. Butler and W. Suntikul

How then should we look at tourism and war? We have already argued that
the view that war and tourism cannot co-exist is too simplistic and factually
incorrect, and so it is necessary to propose a different attitude and approach to
understand what happens to tourism when war occurs. It should go without saying
that war is anathema, evil, and to be avoided if at all possible, bringing great social,
human, environmental, and moral and economic misery to many people. Despite
this, humankind (mostly mankind) has found justification for necessary wars
throughout history, from the Romans extending civilization to barbarians, to Christians removing infidels from the Holy Land through the Crusades, to struggles to
obtain independence and to preserve territorial existence once independence has
been gained, to fear of impending or ongoing aggression, and to liberate oppressed
peoples from tyrants. In recent years, from 1939 to the present, we have seen necessary wars against Nazism, against genocide in the Balkans, against dictatorial
invasion in Kuwait, to defeat terrorism in Afghanistan, and to alleviate anticipated mass killing in Libya. Whatever our changing moralities and viewpoints, it
is highly unlikely that wars will ever cease completely and thus we need to be able
to better understand their effects on and relationships with tourism.
One area that has involved aspects of war-related tourism is that of dark
tourism, partly one assumes, because war inevitably causes death, often on a
massive scale, and it could be argued that visitors to sites associated with death
are participating in dark tourism (a view which several of the contributors to this
volume imply). However, studies on dark tourism generally do not focus on
the relationships between war and tourism but primarily on the aftermath of war
and conflict, along with the appeal of death sites and other examples of tragedies
and brutality. Those works that deal with conflict, terrorism, crime, and tourism,
for example Pizam and Mansfeld (1996), Mansfeld and Pizam (2006), Hall et al.
(2003), tend to take a view more focused on conflict and its effects on tourism than
on war and its results, including the very rarely discussed positive effects of war
in certain locations. Lennon and Foleys Thanatourism volume (2000) focuses
heavily on the attraction of death and disaster as their title suggests, rather than war
and its relationship with tourism. The same comment can be made in general about
the most recent book on this theme by Sharpley and Stone (2010), although this
last volume does deal with theories and concepts about the subject and also with
topics such as battlefield tourism, but it does not have the relationship between
war and tourism as one of its major themes.
The misconception that tourist visitation to war sites is an aspect of thanatourism, or dark tourism, which implies a ghoulish fascination with death and
evil, is often, perhaps mainly, far from accurate. Most visitors to war graves for
example, such as those in Northern France, do so out of a sense of pilgrimage
and even obligation (Winter 2011), as well as personal loss, confirming one of the
key links to heritage tourism (Poria et al. 2004a). One might argue that Western
tourists visiting the killing fields in Cambodia might be more interested in where
people were killed based on the movie dealing with the massacres than in exhibiting any real sense of sympathy or grief, as might those who have no personal links
to those who died in the death camps of Eastern Europe during the Second World

Tourism and war 5

War, but one could equally argue that such sites are not war sites in a strict
sense. Tourism to war-based artifacts, such as the large guns on Sentosa Island
(Singapore) or Darwin (Australia), the trenches of Flanders, or the many castles
throughout Europe are not necessarily related to death. Tourists may be drawn
more by the historical significance of the place or the architectural or scenic interest of the structures. In some cases the items in question, e.g. the guns noted above,
were never actually used in conflict but still attract many thousands of people a
year. Museums such as the Imperial War Museum in London can hardly be said to
be ghoulish or promoting dark tourism, mostly if anything they are demonstrating
the costs of war in terms of human grief and suffering, as well as saluting gallantry
and sacrifice.

The silver lining

It may seem highly inappropriate to argue that there is a positive side for tourism as
a result of war, but such is clearly the case for a number of reasons. The first is that
there is a mirror effect of war on tourism. While conflict, particularly war, almost
always prevents tourism in the areas in which hostilities are taking place, it quite
often initiates and stimulates tourism to areas which are safe from conflict. Thus,
at the end of the nineteenth century, Grand Tour travel for the British was effectively halted by the Napoleonic Wars, as traversing Europe to get to Italy proved
dangerous if not impossible (Hibbert 1969; Towner 1996, and this volume). There
was a corresponding growth in English seaside and spa resorts, particularly those
not on the Channel coast. Once wars ended, the newly established or revitalized
resorts continued while new routes on the railways allowed more tourists than ever
to visit Italy, with the Grand Tour being less grand but more popular.
A second factor, alluded to above, is that war, or at least its aftermath, can create tourist attractions in the form of military, political, and physical heritage. The
castles, fortifications, and weapons mentioned above become permanent tourist
markers and attract large numbers of visitors, e.g. to the battlefield at Waterloo,
to those of the War of Independence in the USA such as Bunker Hill in Boston, or
the Civil War in America such as Gettysburg and Bull Run (Daniels et al. this volume), and even further back in time, to Hastings, site of the Norman Invasion of
England in 1066 (Miles, this volume). Similarly, structures like Hadrians Wall and
the Great Wall of China, perhaps not war relics but built to prevent war or at least
invasion, now attract tourists instead of hostile forces. Even sites of defeat such as
Thermopylae or Massada (Poria et al. 2004b) in Israel, take on the power of inspiration centuries later, also symbolized in the Dunkirk spirit so often endorsed
by the British media in time of national crisis (often related to sports events). Sites
such as the USS Arizona Monument in Pearl Harbor illustrate clearly the tourist
appeal of even tragedies and sites of aggression. Finally in this regard, facilities
developed for, or in anticipation of, war can also become both tourist attractions
and important elements in a regions infrastructure.
Third, in the aftermath of war, the resultant political change (Butler and Suntikul
2010) can stimulate tourism as newly established political entities appreciate

6 R. Butler and W. Suntikul

tourism as a new source of national or regional income, in some cases building
on publicity gained from the war (the bridge at Mostar for example) despite the
image and evidence of conflict that may remain (Corak 2006). In recent years,
Vietnam probably presents the clearest case of a nation whose tourism industry is
benefiting from the horror and cost of war. There are American veterans returning
to the locations they visited as combatants, along with many other foreign tourists
keen to visit features, such as the Cu Chi Tunnels and the Hoa Lo Prison in Hanoi,
of which they became aware through coverage of the conflict some thirty to forty
years ago (Suntikul et al. 2010; and Lema and Agrusa this volume).
Related, but preceding tourism resulting from the aftermath of war, is the situation in which tourism begins or grows while war is occurring in areas involved
with, but separate from, the conflict itself. In particular, the staging areas for combatants, along with those areas used for rest and recuperation (R&R), often build
on a captive market and begin to offer accommodation, food and beverage facilities, and other services, some less salubrious for the duration of the conflict, and
then redevelop those facilities for a more conventional and longer staying tourist
market in the post conflict era. Examples of this phenomenon can be seen at Pattaya in Thailand (Suntikul, this volume), Honolulu and Hong Kong in the Pacific
arena, and places like Wasaga Beach, the largest resort in Ontario on Lake Huron,
which was extremely popular with Canadian servicemen at nearby Camp Borden
during and after the Second World War (Wolfe 1952). In a similar vein to tourism
in Vietnam after the war, it is likely that many ex-combatants, until recently often
the first of their generation to venture abroad, gain a taste for foreign cultures and
sights which translates into subsequent overseas trips, not just in a nostalgic vein
to sites of former experience. Such a case could perhaps be termed an example of
travel (in war) broadening the mind (in peace).
Finally, there is the creation of new countries out of conflict providing new locations with potential tourist attraction. Not unrelated to this is the emergence of a
number of Eastern European countries as developing tourist destinations for Western visitors after the end of the Cold War and the opening up of former Communist
countries (Hall 2010). The maintenance of differences between neighboring states
and quasi-states after the end of hostilities can also be an attraction as seen by
the desire of visitors to Cyprus to visit the Republic of North Cyprus (Jacobsen
et al. 2010), and those to Korea to visit the demilitarized zone and see across to
North Korea (Lee and Kang, this volume), somewhat mirroring the many tourists
to Berlin who gazed at and across the Berlin Wall before its demise (Suntikul
2010).

Neither war nor peace

Even during global conflicts some places manage to avoid becoming involved as
participants by being too far from the warring parties or by adopting neutrality.
In the last global conflict, in Europe, Switzerland, a permanent neutral state for
many decades, was joined by Sweden, Portugal, Spain (Walton, this volume), and
the Vatican in neutrality. While the Vatican did not receive many tourists because

Tourism and war 7

of or despite its neutrality, Spain and Portugal certainly benefited from increased
visitation directly as a result of their neutrality. Details on tourism in Sweden
during World War Two are vague at best, one Swedish tourist researcher (personal
communication 2010), in response to a query about research on this topic, made
the comment that:
I really cannot think of anyone who has worked on this in Sweden! WWII is
sort of a non-topic in Sweden, in my view because Sweden was involved in
unfortunate dealings with the Germans, which is conflicting with the current
self-image of Swedes Swedes essentially see themselves as better people
than others, and anything that would conflict with that view cannot be part
of a public debate. So while WWII is discussed almost on a weekly basis in
Germany, you would see no debate ever in Sweden; which, of course, would
be worth a study in itself.
In the case of Portugal a recent magazine article (Mitra 2011: 85) noted that:
Exiled royals and aristocrats escaped the World Wars to savour the sunny
shores and the countrys neutral status, an era in which Estoril towns Hotel
Palacio and its adjoining casino were filled with international dignitaries,
diplomats and spies. . . While the rest of the world was gripped in the turmoil of the first half of the 20th century, by all accounts, Europes elite was
living it up right here.
Neutrality does not always bring obvious benefits however, Switzerland became
isolated from 191419 and again in 193945 because of its geography, the only
access to the country in the latter case being across Nazi-occupied Europe by land
or air, which de facto prohibited travel there. As a result, the countrys tourism
industry suffered from a disappearance of almost all foreign visitors with subsequent adjustments to a totally domestic market for several years (Mller and
Hoppler, this volume).
Other locations, such as Casablanca in Morocco, gained from a quasi-neutral
stance (e.g. being part of Vichy occupied France) with tourists able to access
their attractions by air and water without having to cross Europe. In the case
of Casablanca of course, Hollywood created a tourist marker through the movie
of the same name (made in 1942), and a modern version of Ricks Caf is now
a major tourist attraction in that city (and shows the movie on small screens
in various dining booths while a pianist plays As Time Goes By to enhance
the atmosphere). Whether this can be thought of as truly war-related tourism is
questionable.

Conclusions
This introductory chapter has hopefully demonstrated that war and tourism are
not mutually exclusive, but this volume should not be interpreted as stating that

8 R. Butler and W. Suntikul

war is good for tourism, although it is clear that war can both initiate and stimulate
tourism to specific sites and areas both during hostilities and after they have ended.
It does not take long after conflict has ceased for tourism to begin, even in areas
devastated by war, although the causes of hostility may remain for many years, if
not centuries. The Middle East is perhaps the best or worst example of this, with
the Crusades representing one of the best examples of the complex relationships
between war and tourism, in that case intertwined with religion, and including
elements of conquest and occupation (Beveridge and OGorman, this volume).
They laid the foundation for conflict in the Holy Lands for several centuries following, a contemporary issue that is intertwined with diasporas returning to the
homeland (Krakover, this volume), occupation, separation, and even far distant
conflicts stemming at least in part from events centuries before. A similar situation
existed in the island of Ireland until relatively recently (Boyd, this volume), and
even now simmers not far beneath the surface, in the form of religious-based conflict complicated by colonialism, oppression, occupation, and terrorism, both there
and elsewhere. Clearly there are many other facets of the relationship between
tourism and war that are not covered in this volume, as noted in the final chapter. Cultural tourism is an increasing component of tourism overall and there can
be little doubt that tourism related to war and conflict is an element of both cultural and heritage tourism. Given many peoples interest in both their personal
heritage (and descendants) and in historical artifacts generally, the relevance of
war-related tourism is likely to remain important in the future. Given the human
inability throughout recorded history to remain at peace with one another, it is,
perhaps unfortunately, likely to increase in significance in the future.
Following this chapter there are two other studies in this introductory section,
one by Timothy which examines the causes of war and how the different nature
of war affects tourism in various ways, and one by Laderman which examines the
appeal of the martial and discusses why tourists visit war zones, and their reactions
and interpretations to sites. The subsequent chapters in this volume are organized
into five parts, beginning with three chapters that trace the historical links between
war and tourism, starting with Beveridge and OGorman who provide an exploration in Chapter 4 of the role of the Crusades in creating a legacy relating to both
travel in the Middle East and to potential conflict between religious factions. This
is then followed by Towner, who examines the effect of war on English travel in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Chapter 5, and then Walton, who explores
the relationships of war and tourism in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
in Chapter 6. Following this historical context, the next part deals with tourism
before, or in the early stages of, war. Chapter 7 examines the creation of infrastructure such as the Alaska Highway (Coates and Morrison). Chapter 8 discusses
staging posts and rest and relaxation sites for troops in the Vietnam War (Suntikul),
which have subsequently become important in contemporary tourism. The more
generic issue of neutrality, and the effect of such a status during global conflicts,
is discussed in the case of Switzerland by Mller and Hoppler in Chapter 9.
The third part deals with tourism in countries still under the threat of conflict
in a variety of forms. Lee and Kang describe the singular aspects of tourism in

Tourism and war 9

and from South Korea that have developed as a result of the ongoing truce with
North Korea, while Krakover discusses aspects of tourism in and to Israel, a country which has experienced the threat and reality of violence since its establishment
over half a century ago. Finally, Isaac presents the view from Palestine of developing tourism in a quasi state partially under the control of its neighbor. Part 4
explores tourism in various countries after war has ended. Corak, Mikacic, and
Ateljevic explore the impact of the dissolution of Yugoslavia and subsequent war
in the Balkans, noting some unexpected benefits, which have emerged in Croatia
at least. Boyd presents the situation in Northern Ireland, covering the period from
before, during, and subsequent to the Troubles in that part of the United Kingdom
and the steps being taken to adjust to peace. Weaver reviews the legacy of war
in the South Pacific and elsewhere on Australia in terms of physical and cultural
heritage and memory. Finally, Eades and Cooper discuss the influence of the post
war presence of American forces in Japan and the way they have shaped leisure
and tourism in Japan.
The final part before the conclusions deals with the extensive topic of remembrance in the context of war tourism. Miles reviews the relationship between
tourism and two very different sets of battlefields, ancient ones in Britain, and
those of the First World War in Belgium and France, while Daniels, Dieke, and
Barrow present the example of the sesqui-centennial of the American Civil War
battle of Manassas (First Battle of Bull Run), illustrating the range of issues
involved with hosting such an event. Lema and Agrusa deal with Vietnam and
the potential tourism from American veterans and other groups visiting that country some three decades after the end of the conflict. Finally, Vanneste and Foote
look to the forthcoming centennial events associated with the First World War
sites in Belgium and France, and the associated costs and benefits and political
difficulties of organizing a major war remembrance event involving international
interests and a range of viewpoints.
In the conclusions Verbeke and George discuss memoryscapes in the context of war, particularly the First World War, outlining aspects of current research
on this topic, including how perceptions and images of war tourism landscapes
change over time. The last chapter by the editors endeavors to identify key themes
and issues which have emerged from the volume, as well as discussing aspects of
the topic not dealt with, along with potential areas of future research.

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2 Tourism, war, and political instability

Territorial and religious perspectives
Dallen J. Timothy

Introduction
Since the modern-day ascent of mass tourism in the nineteenth century, and the
late twentieth-century advent of more specialized forms of tourism, the world has
undergone many significant geopolitical changes. Countries have come and gone,
states have united in supranational alliances, free trade agreements pervade the
global trade scene, and international relations have been liberalized in most cases.
Many positive socio-economic and political outcomes have resulted from these
geopolitical transformations, but one thing remains constant and unchanged by
contemporary trends: conflict and warfare between states and peoples. Tourism,
one of the most pervasive socio-economic and political phenomena common the
world over, has been influenced positively and negatively by political changes
(Butler and Suntikul 2010); yet territorial, religious, and other types of conflicts
and wars continue to impact tourism in a variety of ways.
This chapter provides an overview of many of the salient issues surrounding
the relationships between tourism and war. It first examines the roots of war and
political malcontent throughout the world, especially as it pertains to territorial
and religious conflicts, and highlights some of the most pertinent relationships
between tourism and political conflict from the perspective of territoriality- and
religion-based warfare.

Territorial conflict, religious discord, and the roots of war

Conflicts abound the world over: political and religious tensions, corruption,
coups detat, military occupations, crime, terrorism, and warfare. War is only one
extreme form of malevolence between countries, peoples, or ideologies, but it has
some of the longest-lasting implications for society in general, and tourism in
particular. Several observers, this author included, have suggested that the root
of conflict throughout the world is greed (Collier and Hoeffler 2000; Fearon and
Laitin 2003; Timothy 2008). While some commentators suggest grievance is the
main cause of war, lying at the core of grievance also is greed on the part
of people in power who perpetuate conditions of oppression, poverty, famine,

Tourism, war, and political instability 13

and other injustices, or aggressors seeking control of peoples, territories, or
resources.
Wars have been fought throughout history for a host of reasons and have
appeared in many forms. These include, but are not limited to, confrontations
against perceived injustices, campaigns to gain control of territory, efforts to control natural resources, retaliation for aggression, claims to religious rights over
territories and beliefs, and struggles to subjugate rivals or ethnic minorities. The
deadliest war in recorded history was the Second World War (193945), which
involved many countries and resulted in upwards of 70 million human fatalities
throughout the world (Black 2003; Keegan 1993). Today, the worlds armed forces
number over 70 million, supported by upwards of US$ 3 trillion in military spending (Kobayashi 2009: 819). According to the most recent UN Refugee Agency
estimates (2010), some 43.3 million people were forcibly displaced from their
homes at the end of 2009, with approximately 80 percent of these being from lessdeveloped countries (Kobayashi 2009) and uprooted overwhelmingly by political
conflict and/or persecution.
War is an ever-present part of the global geopolitical environment, and few
places on earth have remained unaffected by it in one form or another. In general,
war involves conditions of armed conflict between countries, peoples, or ideological groups, characterized by intense violence and aggression. It always claims
human life, destabilizes economies, disrupts socio-cultural life, and triggers environmental devastation. While the absence of war is commonly referred to as peace,
depending on ones definition of the term, there are many elements of peace that go
beyond the rather simplistic notion of an absence of war to include variables such
as justice, harmony, goodwill, and opportunities for personal growth (Moufakkir
and Kelly 2010).

War and tourism

Without belaboring the point, because this volumes editors discussed this in the
first chapter, it is clear that the relationships between tourism and political conflict
are manifold and multifaceted (Fyall et al. 2006). However, to set the context
for the remainder of this chapter, some of these relationships will be restated
here.
First, the negative implications of hostilities and war for tourism, particularly the rapid decline of tourist demand under conditions of war, have been
well documented (Fleischer and Buccola 2006; Hitchcock and Darma Putra
2005; Neumayer 2004; Vukonic 1997; Mller and Hoppler, this volume). Some
observers have suggested that war and tourism are incompatible, or that peace
must reign before tourism can thrive (Vukonic 1997). Second, however, recent
research and expert observations from across the globe illustrate otherwise, suggesting the important role of war as a resource for tourism (Hannam 2006;
Henderson 2000; Smith 1998). Active warfare can be a tourist attraction, as in
the current case of Afghanistan (see Laderman, this volume), where some specialized tourism niches exist that provide opportunities for tour groups (typically from

14 D. J. Timothy
the European market) to visit battlefields and restricted areas, abandoned Al Qaida
training camps and hideouts, destroyed villages, and other heritage sites (Adams
2001; Lew et al. 2011). Many studies and much commentary have been done to
examine the remnants of war (e.g. battlefields, monuments, cemeteries) as important heritage attractions (Agrusa et al. 2006; Cooper 2006; Henderson 2000; Thi
Le and Pearce 2011) (see also Daniels et al. and Miles, this volume). In addition,
some tourists visit countries during conditions of war, but their primary purpose
has little or nothing to do with the war, such as in Iraq where tourists visit areas
that are not directly affected by active combat (McGahey 2006).
A third relationship is when tourism is seen as a potential tool for creating more
peaceful relations between belligerent parties (Gelbman and Timothy 2010; Guo
et al. 2006; Moufakkir and Kelly 2010; Prideaux et al. 2010) where at the microlevel, appropriate tourism development may serve as a means to ward off potential
conflict (Hall et al. 2003: 1) (see also Lee and Kang, this volume). Another
more negative relationship is the wanton intentional destruction of natural and
cultural heritage resources, or their unintentional annihilation as collateral damage during times of conflict (Metreveli and Timothy 2010; Timothy 2011). Fifth,
tourism is also used often as a propaganda tool during times of political crises and
upheavals to illustrate the benevolence and/or authority of the parties in power,
or to reimage places tainted by conflict when the conflict is over (Cohen-Hattab
2004; Lee 2006; Richter 1980; Rivera 2008). War and its history are often used to
commemorate national greatness and the heroification of important figures and
memorialization of events as social memories of war are perpetuated (West 2010;
Winter 2009). Finally, tourism may also be a catalyst for conflict, hostage taking,
and even armed skirmishes, in already contentious geopolitical situations, such as
in border areas.
The rest of the chapter will examine some of the relationships noted above as
they pertain specifically to territorial and religious conflicts.

Territorial conflicts
One of the most salient causes of international conflict (and some domestic civil
wars) in the past has been disagreements between states over territorial rights and
sovereignty. Sovereignty can be described as absolute control over national territory, and national space is jealously defended. Often, offensive positions are taken
by states to gain new ground via the international legal concept of terra nullius,
unoccupied territory, or land belonging to no one (Glassner and Fahrer 2004;
Timothy 2010). European colonial successes between the sixteenth and twentieth
centuries are an example of this, as is the current contestation over Antarctica and
parts of the Arctic. Such offenses are often met with defensive force by states with
similar or overlapping claims. Another form of land acquisition, often utilized by
nations in the past, is the process of conquest and annexation. The Soviet intrusion into Japans Kuril Islands during the Second World War and their subsequent
annexation into Soviet (now Russian) territory is one example, with Japan still
claiming concurrent rights over the islands (Timothy 2010). At the core of these