foreign the terrorist attacks in Tunisia Egypt and turkey have had a devastating effect on Regional tourism conflicts on political upheaval of the Arab Spring had already put many people off taking a holiday by the southern Mediterranean the attacks at Istanbul Airport and on a Russian holiday flight over the Sinai are still fresh in people's minds and influencing The Chosen destinations of millions of Europeans [Music] thank you [Music] the terrorist attack on this beach in Seuss and Tunisia took place on June the 25th 2015. the journalist my broker career was at the scene of the Ambush a few moments after it happened in front of the Imperial Mahaba Hotel she saw things she'll never be able to forget it was complete chaos tourists on the ground shot blood was flowing into the sea and into the pool these were images almost too hard to bear foreign holiday makers most of them British before he himself was shot dead by police the hotel is still closed today the attack traumatized the country and its people like no other [Music] this is not our country and this is not why we invite tourists to come here to see and experience that was deeply sad and shocking City the victims the blood in the sea the Weeping people I hope Tunisia never has to go through something like that again the attack by a lone gunman trained by the is in neighboring Libya cleared out the beaches of Tunisia in one go many hotels had to close down Zora Idris owner of the Imperial Mahaba Hotel let her employees go her business only survived the crisis because she also owns other hotels elsewhere it was hell for the whole country and Beyond Tunisia the terrorists want to attack the country's economy tourism is one of the main foundations of our economy 400 000 people work directly and almost another 400 000 work indirectly in the tourism industry the consequences were even more dramatic in Gerber than ensus where tourism collapsed by 80 percent a crash that affects practically every family on the island as tourism is the most important source of income for the population thousands of employees were let go slad aliani worked in a senior position at the spring club Jabba hotel for 23 years when it suddenly closed a few months ago everyone was made redundant their calls for a settlement fell on deaf ears the hotel owner disappeared abroad just closing all the doors and leaving us by the wayside it doesn't work like that and then people complain there is Terrorism but that's how you create terrorism it's their fault the problem needs to be solved quickly I'm speaking my mind others spend their evenings crying and full of Despair at home because they don't know a way out [Applause] this one's husband semi also lost his job in the hotel and needs to sell the family car to make ends meet many people are in the same position has found a new job as a security worker but his income is now much lower we're in serious financial difficulties I can't manage to cover the mortgage on my wife's house by myself anymore so we're forced to sell the car to pay the mortgage we don't do that the banks will be merciless and we'll end up in court but so far semi hasn't managed to sell the car there are too many on offer the low prices are ruining the market SWAT ariani worries every day soon the family will not be able to meet their payments 150 Euros a month is All That Remains for the family of five that's barely enough for food let alone school books and uniforms for the children she's asked the state for support but received none [Music] State anything and now after 23 years it's giving me the cold shoulder I should sue but the lawyer needs a deposit the court bailiff also cost something before he does his work and that without my wages we can't cover these costs with a single income we may as well go and beginner if things don't change we're very scared it's not just us all my colleagues who worked in tourism are suffering we hope this crisis will pass soon if the tourists continue to stay away from Jabba poverty threatens to take hold of the island once more foreign s of visitors used to jostle past the market stalls of huntsook tourists from Britain and Germany in particular were fond of vacationing on Jabba today lot feature he turned his colleagues are Waiting in Vain for customers lotfy cannot live off the few local sales it's only thanks to his savings that he can manage to keep his shop open we have a little business from the tunisians a few algerians come but for the rest of the year there are only locals here that's not enough to cover costs this situation has forced many people to leave this line of work people no longer find jobs many flee illegally to Europe everyone is looking for Alternatives [Music] eight hours later lotfi is still waiting for customers when they do arrive he's hard-pressed to make a sale he misses the Europeans who like to spend money the visit to the bazaar was a popular activity for many Travelers yes work is done now I need to take everything in maybe tomorrow will be better it takes him two hours to bring the goods inside Lottery Works 12 hours a day seven days a week but remains patient and friendly [Music] I sold maybe two or three things this morning there was a little trade with the Russians thank goodness but that was it everything brings its part every day is different inshallah that the future will get better [Music] thank you since the attack in sooth security measures have been tightened everywhere twice as many policemen and private security forces guard the beaches and control major Junctions fiveways and entrances to hotels are also closely watched the higher the security levels of the hotels the more bookings they receive all the large hotels have ramped up security and trained Security Forces the rapidly implemented measures to tighten security were an important step for tourism minister alumi rakik about one-sixth of tunisia's population of 11 million earns its livelihood from tourism we have introduced compulsory security measures and protocols in the hotels restaurants at the main sightseeing destinations airports our security concepts are up to International standards yes but that doesn't mean that there's zero risk we saw what happened in Brussels France and the U.S luckily tourism improved a little in 2016. Tunis is still the only capital in the Arab world where democracy has begun to take root although this Freedom was accompanied by economic crisis after the unrest of the Arab Spring tourism started to decline the terror attacks severely worsened the situation square and Tunis was where demonstrators gathered in January 2011 in front of the ministry of the Interior as the Jasmine Revolution reached a critical stage thousands protested against the Decades of autocratic government and self-enrichment under dictator Benelli that was the start of the Arab Spring the dictator has long since fled the country after several unstable governments it appears the country's political situation has been slowly stabilizing since the last election in 2014. is meeting with journalist friends she has to give an interview about protests on the coconut islands for an Arab TV channel in contrast to many of her colleagues she doesn't only know the Region's Capital but also its rural areas she regularly reports on internal tensions in the country tensions that are exacerbated by the lack of tourists reports such as these would previously have been severely censored please the revolution it was hard to work together with an international broadcaster I am now a correspondent for a European Channel there is a certain level of free speech we can address many issues it's easy to get filming permission and I can work without restrictions is currently working on a report on the northwest of the country where many people have no access to drinking water the locals in this rural region are forced to rely on contaminated water from a valley due to corruption the local drinking water supply has collapsed the economic crisis aggravates Grievances and widens the Divide between rich and poor there are people in these regions who are really suffering they have the feeling that even after the revolution the government is not taking care of them and so people begin to revolt and demonstrate which is why there is still no stability there today [Music] satisfaction is particularly acute amongst young people in January 2016 and the City of kassarin and Central Tunisia there were protests against high unemployment and a lack of prospects two people were killed and many wounded in clashes with police in the chaos of the Revolution especially in the more remote regions salafist preachers recruited around 6 000 is militants for the fight against President Basha al-assad in Syria professor aliyani teaches politics at the University in Tunis he's very familiar with the jihadist movement and Terror groups within Tunisia in those days the government didn't control the masks in Tunisia and almost a third of them were under salafist controls they're the islamists set up a number of charitable organizations and thanks to these received funds from the Gulf States this enabled a large funded recruitment of Youth that was sent to Libya or Syria foreign whoever recruited a person as a fighter was given twenty thousand dollars there was a competition there were people who recruited up to 10. that meant a whole two hundred thousand dollars so jihadism became a type of industry in Industries the influence of is terrorist propaganda and salafist preachers as being actively counted by the Tunisian government it controls the mosques and has revoked the right of radical imams to preach [Music] Libya is just 60 kilometers from Jabba the military has reinforced 200 kilometers of the border to prevent the infiltration of is terrorists from a neighboring country [Music] 2016 Egypt Ambush here 30 is terrorists broke through the border and stormed the Frontier Town of Ben Garden all the targets were shot dead 48 people including many security staff were killed at the moment the largest problems are the sleeper cells there aren't many but the issues can only be solved with good Economic Policy if there is social and economic Improvement then these sleeper cells will also disappear sleep cells our president often says the tunisians are like Reeds growing on the riverbank they Bend when a wind comes but they straighten up again afterwards now we're on the ground but we will rise again and we'll fight terrorism like all other countries in the world we will win in the end [Music] [Music] is now resigned to waiting for customers steps of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt used to be teeming with tourists now they're deserted [Music] the camel tour to the other side of the pyramids was his and his family's income source for many years after the unrest in Cairo in 2011 he had to use up his savings as tourism dwindled since then business hasn't been good oh maybe Latino like 40 to 50 . on a good day we have half as many tourists as we used to whom I hope that it'll slowly improve the situation has gotten a little better some complain and moan but not me some have given up their jobs and others continue I've got to go now all right the upheaval of the last years has had severe consequences for saber and for Egypt as a whole six years ago Cairo with its 22 million inhabitants became the focus of the Arab Spring with its protests and violence one result was a dearth of visitors that continues to this day Egypt's Revolution began in January 2011 in Central tahere Square the spark from Tunis had ignited Cairo fifteen thousand demonstrators occupied the square declaring days of rage and demanding Democratic reforms reviled president Hosny Mubarak was forced by the masses to step down the fast free election in the country's history in 2012 saw the Muslim Brotherhood gain power after only a year there were more Furious protests followed by a military coup the Army cracked down hard on the Brotherhood and as followers the military deliberately killed hundreds of demonstrators including women and children 2014 the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces Abdel fattah al-sisi came to power in new elections with a huge majority since then the military has ruled with an iron fist closing down newspapers and throwing journalists and dissidents into prison our camera team was escorted by armed minders who did not let us out of their sight the media as a whole is under surveillance Egyptian Publications are censored the country has once again become a police state one evening we secretly met the human rights activist Molson Hassan who won the alternative Nobel Prize for her struggle on behalf of women's rights she's one of a few who still dares to speak openly in front of the camera the public Space is really closed based on different laws and regulations but for several Society it's really hard we are really on a Crackdown that most of the organizations including our organization and me personally are accused of foreign funding and supposedly any of this case could stand to life sentence and at the same time they are getting putting pressure generally on on our existence most of us in this case who are in the human rights Defenders or on travel band like me personally in the city center where thousands of European tourists once visited the Khana khalili Bazaar the largest market in Africa it's only the locals who make purchases alongside a few tourists from neighboring countries [Music] in the last year under Mubarak around 15 million tourists flocked to the country by the Nile those numbers are now closer to 5 million Zakaria gonheim misses the European and American tourists who would spend far more money than the locals the changes taking place in the Arabic countries have led to an economic decline but after this there will be good business again foreign ERS work a few Courtyards away at the bazaar the Craftsmen are also suffering due to the lull without the export Market they would have had to close up shop [Applause] since the youth they've been working as silversmiths specializing in delicately finished jewelry it's a traditional craft that is now in danger of dying out we used to make a good living from it and could live well there was a lot of work my uncle Hassan and I would work for other people after we were done here to earn extra money there used to be six or seven of us in this Workshop now we're three two of us are old you understand there is no one left who wants to learn this trade send us apprentices if you have any send them to us if customers continue to stay away they will be the last to ply a dying trade an Egyptian cultural tradition is threatened with Extinction [Music] Minister Yahara shed refuses to regard this as a crisis the tourism Ministry prefers not to talk about the job losses I was in Paris last week and one of the journalists came and said it is more safe in charge than it is you know and that is the fact of the matter so you know it all depends on how you look at things the message is clear Egypt is safe by all measures you know and I don't want to address this to the German public or the French public because we're all on the same equation all of us foreign he lives with his family of eight and fifteen further relatives and children in a small house not far from the pyramids [Applause] I was born here married here this is my house my life and my family when the revolution started there was no more work now there's a little work but we can't save anything foreign at the moment it's not looking good I hope very much it will be better for the next generation it looks difficult for us now we will probably not experience good tourism anymore [Applause] for now they have left is the breathtaking view of the pyramids with or without the tourists which life at chamel Sheikh 500 kilometers from Cairo the beaches along the Red Sea are empty the hotels chronically underbooked October 2015 a Russian Charter flight blew up over the Sinai 124 were killed according to Moscow there was a bomb on the plane visitor numbers to Egypt plummeted only six months later an Egypt Air flight crashed into the Mediterranean 66 people were killed again terrorism was suspected the consequences for Egyptian tourism were catastrophic whether in Cairo or at the Red Sea 500 hotels closed down hotel director Franz keelhofer says he's never seen anything like it the only reason the Sheraton can stay open is because it's part of a large chain when you see it so empty it's awful it hurts it's not good we've had to let about 420 employees go in six months more than two-thirds and we're trying to keep those who are left we send no one on unpaid leave and we're not reducing their pay life is hard enough for the people we don't want to make it harder we try to support the people who work for us now two-thirds of the people who worked here have lost their jobs of the 900 000 hotel workers in Egypt six hundred thousand are now unemployed for the governor of the South Sinai region General Khaled Huda the plane crashes are the worst thing that could have happened from one day to the next the Region's entire economy was broken it cost us more than three billion dollars can you imagine what we could have done with this three billion we could build schools and hospitals and improve opportunities for our children we could build houses for our children now they are living in slums that tourism has been destroyed is a harsh punishment for the state and for the entire region for the terrorists the crimes and atrocities are a success is boasted that it smuggled the bomb aboard the Russian plane at shamal Sheikh Airport security standards were internationally condemned we used a hidden camera after permission to film in the airport was denied Security checks have been intensified and every item of baggage is x-rayed and sealed [Music] we've implemented all recommended security measures for the airport we've taken the criticism seriously now it's up to the countries that have deserted us the tourists should come back from our side we've done everything we can an hour's flight away is the city of Luxor by the Nile with its world famous ancient ruins tourism here has collapsed completely the most important income source for the majority of the population everyone was affected as family members lost their jobs since the 19th century Luxor has been a dream destination for culture tourists but in this city with its great history there are barely any Europeans to be seen at least more visitors are coming from Arab countries out of solidarity they say the four thousand-year-old Temple City of kanak two kilometers from laksa is the largest temple complex in Egypt and one of the most important archaeological sites in the world Ahmed nubi head of the information department at naksor knows every relief and every column of the famous Hall that was completed by Ramses II it paints him that Terrors and has scared the guests away and that the ancient ruins are no longer being maintained we were one of the ones who suffered a lot from terrorism we can't forget the decade of terrorism in Egypt which had the tourists in Egypt very badly and ended by the massacre of Queen hatshop suit in 1997. the first major islamist terrorist attack in Egypt was at hatch episode's Temple 58 holidaymakers were slaughtered foreign was behind the attack since then there have been several jihadist attacks by different terrorist groups against Egypt's military government [Music] security measures in Luxor have long since been tightened when there was an attack two years ago armed security forces responded immediately that lovers of antiquity from Europe and America will return soon that would also help pay for further excavations in Karnak this civilization it belongs to the Mankind and all of us has to enjoy and to preserve and to make the reconstructions layers of civilization the Greeks when they came to Egypt they took from the ancient Egyptians their philosophy their medicine their sciences and then the European civilization was built upon the Greeks one for the Renaissance then the new American civilization it's built upon the European civilization so if you see it's all connected all connected back to Egypt now the Chinese are discovering the world heritage site for themselves since their president visited Luxor in 2015 they've been coming by the thousands a new Ray of Hope for Luxor it's along the Nile have not yet managed to attract Chinese clientele of the former 260 Hotel ships that cruised between Luxor and Aswan only a dozen remain on the water [Music] Istanbul and the rest of turkey are also suffering under a volatile combination of instability terrorism and economic decline in comparison to previous years revenues from tourism have fallen by a third the attack at the Blue Mosque in 2016 was only the first of a string of atrocities that year [Music] the is bomber blew himself up in the middle of a group of German tourists on the Square between the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque 13 people were killed and 14 wounded there was another attack at utter Turk airport at the end of June 2016. three terrorists presumably members of is killed 41 people in the entrance hall one of the Assassins opened fire with a Kalashnikov and detonated his explosive device the two others also blew themselves up 139 people were wounded only two weeks later the country was shaken by an attempted military coup parts of the military wanted to overthrow president Richard erdogan 247 people were killed across the country and more than 2 000 wounded the Turkish government said preacher for tula gulen and his hizmet movement were behind the coup weeks and months and erdogan's government launched a Crackdown tens of thousands were arrested not only good and supporters were thrown into prison but also opposition politicians especially from the hdp party which got many of its votes from the minority Kurdish population in late October 2016 it was the turn of the openly critical newspaper chimpuriette to face State oppression the editor-in-chief and 12 other journalists were arrested there was widespread International condemnation of this new blow against press freedom according to the Turkish Union of journalists around 170 media organizations have been closed down since the attempted coup only a few journalists like the well-known author Ahmed Sheikh still dared to openly criticize the government over 120 journalists are in jail after the attempted coup it was about 40. now it's three times as many of course they include many friends and colleagues of mine this is a hunter government they can do anything without being controlled open discussion is not possible Ahmed chick has been detained since giving this interview feeling that his name would be on a list I don't think any truly Islamic politician can be a Democrat Islam is a religion that juxtaposes democracy in Turkey religion is being instrumentalized by a right-wing government it's increasingly authoritarian the regime is showing dictatorial traits turkey is similar to a kingdom in the Middle East democracy that was once upon a time the square by the Hagia Sophia empty the world famous Bazaar is deserted Terror attacks the coup and the ensuing State repression have scared off the tourists even Antalya a popular holiday destination is suffering from a drought in visitors [Music] the Bazaar in antalya's Old Town is reminiscent of desolate Gerber and Cairo yet chances of improvement are much lower here terrorist attacks in Turkey are not only increasing but social conflicts are also on the rise umduman represents workers at the tourism industry he voices the hardship of those who have lost their jobs 75 have been hit by the economic crash of 600 000 employees only 150 000 are still working in this region most of them only have temporary work between three and five months Russian tourists will return as erdogan and Vladimir Putin seem to be getting along again at the waterfalls in manav got a few Russians can be found but they alone cannot make up for the lack of European crowds the all-inclusive hotels Eastwood of Antalya are only 30 full hear the focus on package holidays is backfiring badly customers come because of the low prices not to get to know the local people and their customs and they don't spend like other tourists foreign even though he's in charge of the only Union for all those who work in tourism he believes the current crisis is reinforcing the mistakes made in the past the all-inclusive hotels attract short stay holiday makers and bargain hunters they take cheap holidays and no money stays in the country man's opinion turkey needs to concentrate more on individual tourism focusing on small boutique hotels and expanding its cultural offering only if the relationship between the tourists the region and the country is nurtured he believes will guests return in times of Crisis too statistically the region of Antalya is safer than Francis turkey has destroyed tourism with homemade mistakes in foreign and domestic policy and mistakes in developing the tourism industry this is why turkey is in this situation now it's our fault we've done the damage to ourselves the chances of a Revival of Tourism from the EU appear low democracy is under threat social tensions are on the rise this is evident from over a dozen islamists and Kurdish terrorist attacks in just one year in Egypt people seem to have gotten used to military rule again most people accept it as a necessary evil and believe that it will provide the security needed to bring the tourists back Egypt has been the first tourism destination on Earth okay and today we're not saying anything new we are saying that basically the Egyptian tourism deserves to be at the head of this industry Tunisia has taken the greatest steps to protect its tourists and the future of its own people if the country remains Democratic and the youth profit from reforms a stable development will be possible we have noticed that the situation has improved a little if you compare it to the year of the attack it really was very empty but slowly there is an upturn Beach and cost were the main considerations for many people going on holiday now one more has been added to the list the fear of terrorism in this part of the world the time of Carefree holidays in the sun is over for now [Music] thank you foreign [Music]