Our office gets calls regularly about the safety of traveling to the regions that we service. This is not something new to Caravan-Serai staff. I would say that probably every week someone in this office gets an email or a phone call asking whether it’s safe to go to Jordan, Iran, Turkey, Egypt etc. Most of the people calling and asking these questions are people that have never been to the region or their families are scaring them from going because of what they see and hear in the media. Honestly if everything was as bad as the media portrays, most people would never want to leave their houses, much less travel to a foreign country. It’s best to get some perspective. You can always find a reason for why it is not optimal to travel, but if you keep waiting for that perfect time you will never find it- the world is changing all the time. Do you know how many times people have said “I really wanted to go to Syria and never did, now it is too late” because they will have missed all the beautiful sites that have been destroyed.
Because a lot of the people that call have never been to the country in question they have a hard time realizing that the whole country is not in chaos or under attack. All the media noise makes it seem so, but that is why you call an agent that specializes in that part of the world. We will tell you what the situation is based on our knowledge and reports from our colleagues, partners, and friends and families in the country. We have been dealing with the Middle East and North Africa for the last 30 years and we are also from the region. We talk to our people on the ground and we will be honest about the conditions and give you straight answers. You have to realize that the statistical probability that you will be the victim of a terrorist attack is very, very small. There is really more risk in your own country or city of a drive by shooting or someone coming into a movie theater or going to a school and shooting people than having that happen overseas.
The news media never reports the extent to which everyday life goes on as normal at a destination—because that’s not news “Television and news coverage always make an incident in a foreign country seem more alarming than it actually is. If news sources were to report the extent to which life at the destination goes on as usual, with people going about their everyday routine unaffected, it wouldn’t sell ads, and the news sites wouldn’t get traffic.”
Recently when I had a group in Iran and we had a number of school shootings the Iranian people asked the American group, “are you not afraid of living in America with all the violence around you?”
So, in my opinion don’t stop traveling. But make sure to talk to a travel expert that deals in the region of the world you want to travel to. They will give you the best and most honest advice.
~Rita Zawaideh
President & CEO of Caravan-Serai Tours