Impact of Disasters and Urbanization on Tourism

Faqar Saadoun Hassan
Asst. Lect. Haider Diaa Salman
Disasters:
It is defined as any event that occurs for human or natural reasons, intentional or unintentional, that results in the death of ten or more, or the damage or injury of one hundred or more people, and the painful reactions that appear in individuals immediately after the disaster or after a period of time that includes several hours or a few days (Majid, 7:2006). Earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, and raging volcanoes are obstacles that discourage travel. Disasters, whether man-made or natural, are one of the main external factors that can affect tourism activity, and tourism institutions and countries cannot predict them to a large extent (Al-Akeely, 87:2000). The best example of this is what happened in Nepal in April 2015, where more than 6,000 people were victims of the disaster.

The researcher believes that disasters are among the factors that affect tourism demand, and the relationship between them is inverse. The lower the disasters, the higher the tourism demand, and vice versa, while the other factors remain.

The degree of urbanization:
Urbanization is defined as the process of relative change in the material and moral aspects of human behavior during a certain period of time regardless of the spatial shift (Kafi, 104: 2008).
Urbanization is one of the factors that affect tourism demand, as the development of rural communities into urban communities contributes effectively to the tourism movement. The association of tourism with urbanization is attributed to the provision of purchasing power and the high tendency to travel in urban communities and their ability to adapt to the various transformations that occur and participate in the values and standards that are consistent with the achievements of civilization, including tourism achievement, because the element of urbanization must lead to the tendency towards travel and tourism, especially if other factors are available. This confirms the nature of the direct relationship between urbanization and tourism demand (Al-Mashhadani, 5: 1982).