Travel, politics and propaganda
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Reeta Paakkinen
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Şubat 23, 2009 00:00
The Eastern Mediterranean Tourism and Travel Fair earlier this month proved once again that psychological factors play an important role in the development of tourism in the Balkans and the eastern Mediterranean.
For Kosovo, which celebrated its first independence day last week, the fair was an opportunity to market the new country as a tourism destination. Holidays in Prizren or Pristina may not sound like appealing fantasies. But these towns are likely to offer deeper insights into Balkan history than a five-star holiday resort in Bulgaria. Kosovo and Albania also happen to be countries where thousands of Turkish citizens have family ties.
Representatives of Kosovo's tourism industry privately admit that turning a war-torn country into a tourism destination is a major challenge. Most visitors to Kosovo are either relatives of United Nations personnel or Kosovars residing abroad. But Kosovo's fledgling tourism sector is now trying to expand its customer base to Turkey and the nearby region.
Many challenges remain. First, there is an image problem. How to convince the average traveler that Kosovo is a fun destination for a weekend trip? The new country also suffers from inadequate tourism infrastructure, which will be difficult to upgrade without any tourism revenue to start with.
This means that there is need for a serious marketing effort as well as for a group of pioneers, perhaps 20-something backpackers who do not mind Kosovo's past and its basic facilities. A different kind of marketing psychology was discussed at the northern Cypriot stand. The case of northern Cyprus is an example of how a country's investment in marketing may not be very effective if a political rival is undermining its efforts.
The Turkish Cypriot industry representatives especially mentioned a recent incident involving Greek Cypriot diplomats and a travel agent in a third European country. The travel agent received numerous phone calls and a visit from the Greek Cypriot representation, who demanded that he drop plans to take tourists to northern Cyprus via Turkey.
With this episode in mind I proceeded to the Russian stand, where I discovered a tourism brochure promoting journeys to Valaam Monastery in the Russian Republic of Karelia. The brochure included factual errors that could be read as an attempt to rewrite the painful history of Finnish-Russian relations. However, I have not heard of any Finnish attempt to undermine Russia's tourism sector. Perhaps Nordic countries are forward-looking and sensible enough not to make embarrassing scenes or mix politics with tourism.
It is clear that tourism boycotts and propaganda are not the way ahead in international relations. They harm the interests of both sides and call into question the aims of the party attempting them. The residents of Karelia, northern Cyprus and Kosovo Ñ whatever their ethnicity may be Ñ need a vibrant tourism industry in order to maintain their cultural heritage. One of the purposes of tourism is to widen people's horizons and increase intercultural understanding. For this reason, acts of so-called "tourism bullying" should receive more attention in the international media.
Representatives of Kosovo's tourism industry privately admit that turning a war-torn country into a tourism destination is a major challenge. Most visitors to Kosovo are either relatives of United Nations personnel or Kosovars residing abroad. But Kosovo's fledgling tourism sector is now trying to expand its customer base to Turkey and the nearby region.
Many challenges remain. First, there is an image problem. How to convince the average traveler that Kosovo is a fun destination for a weekend trip? The new country also suffers from inadequate tourism infrastructure, which will be difficult to upgrade without any tourism revenue to start with.
This means that there is need for a serious marketing effort as well as for a group of pioneers, perhaps 20-something backpackers who do not mind Kosovo's past and its basic facilities. A different kind of marketing psychology was discussed at the northern Cypriot stand. The case of northern Cyprus is an example of how a country's investment in marketing may not be very effective if a political rival is undermining its efforts.
The Turkish Cypriot industry representatives especially mentioned a recent incident involving Greek Cypriot diplomats and a travel agent in a third European country. The travel agent received numerous phone calls and a visit from the Greek Cypriot representation, who demanded that he drop plans to take tourists to northern Cyprus via Turkey.
With this episode in mind I proceeded to the Russian stand, where I discovered a tourism brochure promoting journeys to Valaam Monastery in the Russian Republic of Karelia. The brochure included factual errors that could be read as an attempt to rewrite the painful history of Finnish-Russian relations. However, I have not heard of any Finnish attempt to undermine Russia's tourism sector. Perhaps Nordic countries are forward-looking and sensible enough not to make embarrassing scenes or mix politics with tourism.
It is clear that tourism boycotts and propaganda are not the way ahead in international relations. They harm the interests of both sides and call into question the aims of the party attempting them. The residents of Karelia, northern Cyprus and Kosovo Ñ whatever their ethnicity may be Ñ need a vibrant tourism industry in order to maintain their cultural heritage. One of the purposes of tourism is to widen people's horizons and increase intercultural understanding. For this reason, acts of so-called "tourism bullying" should receive more attention in the international media.