Travel can be scary - Sacramento Bee

Images and headlines about civil unrest, natural disasters and crime are powerful predictors of travel.

A new survey by Mark Travel asked American consumers which countries they planned to avoid traveling to this year.

A full 25 percent said Mexico, 20 percent the Middle East and 11 percent Japan, reported the journal Travel Weekly.

Mexico has been battling crime. Egypt experienced an uprising, and Japan had an earthquake and tsunami.

The survey is a measure of sentiment, but hard tourism numbers for these nations are grim, too.

Despite efforts by tourism marketers, American travel to Mexico fell nearly 7 percent the first five months of this year compared to the same period in 2010. Overall international arrivals to Egypt fell by nearly half during the first quarter. American tourism to Japan in January-May dropped 30 percent.

Our advice? Keep monitoring the situation. Countries need tourists to come back - and deals will pop up as things settle down.

05 Sep, 2011

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