Comments on: Poll question: Would the travel alert for Europe keep you from traveling?

By: asalvesen

asalvesen — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 06:41:54 +0000

I would definitely still go. The truth is, anywhere you travel is potentially dangerous. And I picture the US State Department getting this constant stream of information indicating that there might be trouble in countless cities and countries (let alone continents).

By: budgettravelsac

budgettravelsac — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 21:56:17 +0000

I would still go if it were me. I think things will be ok. Where will you be traveling?

By: Hogga aka _thetraveller_

Hogga aka _thetraveller_ — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 05:02:15 +0000

Ack! I dunno what to do! I am supposed to spend 20 days visiting Friends in Holland and England at the end of NOV…

By: Britains Hotels » Blog Archive » Despite the travel alert, Americans still willing to travel to Europe

Mon, 11 Oct 2010 04:06:34 +0000

[...] past week, I conducted a poll asking people whether the travel alert affected attitudes toward traveling to Europe. 63 people responded (with voters from the US, Europe, and beyond) and 98% of those said they [...]

By: Despite the travel alert, Americans still willing to travel to Europe

Despite the travel alert, Americans still willing to travel to Europe — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 04:01:54 +0000

By: joshywashington

joshywashington — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 19:12:58 +0000

thanks for the poll and the chance to gab on about an inane travel warning…. I don’t know about y’all, but I am done being bullied into cowardice by my Gov.

By: budgettravelsac

budgettravelsac — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 07:30:19 +0000

It’s sad this is the world we live in now. While the UK may be prepared for this, I think the alert was to bring attentions to Americans who may be traveling who may not pay attention to this stuff at all. I think this is nothing more than a warning to be cautious. I think it is something we are getting used to in this world, regardless of where we live.

By: budgettravelsac

budgettravelsac — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 07:28:17 +0000

Simon, the media which promotes this fear is the reason I did this poll. I want to see what real people, those who travel and make vacation plans think of this. I don’t want to read media reports about scare tactics. I don’t believe there is misinformation being spread. However, the more this is out there, the more fear there is. It’s why I wrote the things I did this week.

I didn’t write about the alert. I wrote about whether people should follow the alert. And I gave evidence to many people who aren’t going to stop traveling because of this. But I really wanted to know what travelers, the community we have, thinks. I think that is the biggest voice.

On the flip side, I mentioned this earlier about the government. It’s a catch 22 for them. During 9/11, they had evidence that their could be attacks and not even a warning was given. Afterwards, they received a lot of criticism for that. Now, they are putting out information about possible terrorist attacks that could happen as mentioned by Al Qaeda.

I think with the mistakes that were made with 9/11, they feel they couldn’t sit on this information. They’ve done the “right thing” by not repeating mistakes from 9/11 and they stated this is an alert and not a restriction on people traveling to Europe. If nothing happens, then they could be blamed for hyping this and blowing it out of proportion. What are they supposed to do?

Now I agree the likelihood that anybody would die of an attack is rare. However, this is why I did this poll. What do people who actually travel think of the alert and what effect does it have on their plans? Forget the government and the media. I want to know what people think.

The media will make this a much bigger deal and it will get headlines. But I want to hear the voice of people. Yes, my efforts to get a reaction on this are small. However, there is media and there is truth. Sometimes they may be the same and sometimes not. Regardless, I find it hard to blame the government for the warning as they are in a no win situation.

By: Simon

Simon — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 07:16:16 +0000

I’m really disconcerted by how these kind of information and related warnings are exploited.

The media are playing a crucial role in spreading out similar news and feeding or generating fears without foundation. If you look at the statistics, there are far more chances to be the victim of a car accident or of ‘common’ criminality than blowing up due to a terrorist attack.

There are many reasons behind scaremongering.

From the media point of view, a bad news is much better than good news. It catches much more attention, which means more readers/viewers and higher advertising revenues. More in general, generating fear of the fat chance of terrorist attacks is an excellent way to divert attention from the real issues. Last but not least, overdrawing vague terrorist menaces is doing exactly what terrorism is about and one of its main objective: spreading the fear.

By: Andrew Murray

Andrew Murray — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 00:44:14 +0000

I’m living in the UK, tbh there’s not much going on. If an attack was imminent the alert height would be maxed out. An attack is only expected, it’s been this way since I started my career break over a year ago. If anything we are currently better off as there are now some known specifics and a higher state of public vigilence.