Abstract

SANCHEZ ARCINIEGAS, Clara Inés. Swans in Chiaroscuro: Tourist Flux Reactions to Postmodern Terrorism. Estud. perspect. tur. [online]. 2018, vol.27, n.4, pp.985-1002. ISSN 1851-1732.

The present manuscript derives from earlier interrogations I published at Tourism and Society journal, University Externado of Colombia, Vol 20. This collection was originally entitled Today`s tourism: between the black Swan and the fictionality of the real. My previous work departed from the needs of digesting Nassim Taleb´s insights aimed at exploring the effects of terrorism in tourism.  It is important not to lose the sight of the fact the aftermaths generated by recent terrorist attacks on leisure spots and tourist destinations are not conclusive, but it calls the attention to the needs of discussing terrorism beyond the misconceptions of economic-centered paradigm; oddly an academic wave that today predominates in tourism fields. On the introductory section, I hold the thesis that the impossibilities to predict terrorism comes from the surprise-factor, which is indicative of the terrorist mind. The second and third sections beg some questions revolving around the dichotomy between tourism and security. In fourth, the paper reveals the ontological complexity of the human beings before the danger, as well as the role of uncertainty in the idea of security. While the same point was addressed by S. Freud (per his view of Thanatos vs. Eros), there still is an open debate, which needs to be touched. Hence I infer that terrorism does not affect seriously tourism because consuming tends circulate for new geopolitical and aesthetic circuits, which paradoxically lay the foundations to new forms (more radicalized) of terrorism. This moves to the same direction of great writers like Jean Baudrillard, and Jacques Derrida among others who have contributed to the specialized literature. Equally important, though the discussion given around the fields of terrorism, tourism and security, there is no consensus or any all-encompassing model that helps understanding how the flock of white Swans adjust their destinations and travel habits in the global days. 

Keywords : Tourist fluxes; Atypical terrorism; Security; Psyche; Randomness; Adjustments.