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2 Apr, 2016

The Role Of Media In Tourism Security

Imtiaz Muqbil, Executive Editor, Travel Impact Newswire

Six years ago, on 15 June 2010, I delivered a keynote speech on The Role Of Media In Tourism Security at an International Summit on Tourism Safety & Security, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Here are two excerpts:

(+) Indeed, this is the age of the early warning system. Just as you (safety and security experts) depend on quality intelligence to provide you early warning of impending attack, so too I am an early warning system of a different kind. After 1997 Asian economic crash, local banks set up an early warning system to ward off currency attacks. After the December 2004 tsunami, the region’s governments set up an early warning system to alert us to killer waves. In health and wellness tourism, one of the biggest demands is for a simple medical check up, which is actually nothing more than people seeking early warnings of looming health problems. There is no reason why this pursuit of early warnings should not apply to the role of the media in travel & tourism security, too.

(+) When the security apparatus becomes an accomplice in the effort to mislead the public, trample on human rights and suppress democratic freedoms, the terrorists can claim victory. If terrorists make us live in fear, both of them and the security authorities, they win.

Click here to download the full text of the speech which contains many observations and forecasts that are proving eminently true today.