Travel warnings

I must admit real concerns had occupied my early-on travel considerations as the Middle East region as a whole was being displayed as sliding into a serious conflict and security crisis. Less than encouraging presented also the foreign ministry its travel advice for Jordan. Were we flirting with a risky adventure? Were we going to engage in dark tourism?

Contrary to the dominant assumption that tourists desire to feel comfortably safe, thus preferring a stable environment as their tourist destination, dark tourism is a phenomenon that sets aside the dichotomous relation of tourism and conflict. While some potential visitors are deterred by possible danger, others are attracted. Danger-zone tourists seek to explore ongoing conflict up close.[1]  This closely relates to the concept of the tourist gaze[2] that prescribes the tourists’ desire to see the unfamiliar, being intrigued by ‘authentic differences’:[3] In this case, a conflict-ridden area. Simultaneously, it relates to the embodiment approach[4] that emphasizes the importance of emotions and affects, including in this case: fear, anxiety, thrill, excitement.[5]

Fortunately, I did not need to become the dark tourist type for our trip. Our trip consumed common tourism.

Jordan enjoys a reputation of being especially tourist-friendly and a safe tourist destination.[6] Indeed, our group was constantly reminded of how secure Jordan was, not least by the Dutch embassy and by the USAID organization in Amman. Frankly, during my entire stay I felt thoroughly safe. Reflecting upon my calm emotional state, I realize that my feeling of safeness had been embedded in confidence and trust in my environment. Moreover, concomitant with a fieldwork article and in light of the Dutch embassy’s assurance of Jordan’s highly efficient security network, I perceived Jordan as a safe place, precisely for its position amid a conflict-region. For, this induced the state to (successfully) prioritize security.[7]

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[1] D. M. Buda, 'Tourism In Conflict Areas: Complex Entanglements In Jordan', Journal of Travel Research (2015). See especially: p. 7.

See: A definition on dark tourism: “Danger-zone tourism is defined as tourism to potentially dangerous places of ongoing socio-political conflicts,” in: K.M. Adams, ‘Danger-zone tourism: Prospects and problems for tourism in tumultuous times’, in P.Teo.T.C. Chang & K.C. Ho (Eds.), Interconnected worlds: Tourism in Southeast Asia, (Pergamon, Oxford, England: 2001), 265-281.

[2] John Urry and Jonas Larsen, The Tourist Gaze 3.0 (Los Angeles: SAGE, 2011).

[3] D. M. Buda, 'Tourism In Conflict Areas: Complex Entanglements In Jordan', Journal of Travel Research (2015). See especially: p. 17.

[4] Embodiment approach as described in: Tim Edensor, Tourism (Manchester: Elsevier Ltd., 2009).

[5] Dorina Maria Buda, Anne-Marie d’Hauteserre and Lynda Johnston, 'Feeling And Tourism Studies', Annals of Tourism Research 46 (2014): 102-114.

[6] D. M. Buda, 'Tourism In Conflict Areas: Complex Entanglements In Jordan', Journal of Travel Research (2015). See especially: 13-14: “Jordan’s main attractive points are its safety and security”.

[7] Ibid. is the mentioned fieldwork article This estimated feeling of increased security correlates to what the author discovered. See especially: p. 20-23. 

Now I can say Jordan is not a danger zone

Feeling safe when these guys take care of security