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Hotels are the new terror target, says report
Hotels and easier-to-access tourist areas are now the likely target of terrorists, according to a global intelligence organisation.
A report by STRATFOR said Al-Qaida is changing from a centralised organisation with global goals to regional ‘franchises’ with more parochial aims and strong grass-roots support.
These smaller cells have less training and less money, so they set their sights lower, it said.
It said the number of attacks on hotels has more than doubled since the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
Hotels are targets because they are a fixed location, contain a lot of human traffic, particularly Westerners, and have shallow security.
Although hotel security guards try to monitor suspicious people and activities, extremists know how to get around this, said the report.
As an example, the bombers who carried out the July twin suicide attacks at the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta, Indonesia, had registered two days earlier.
“The first step for large hotel operators in dealing with this threat is to undertake a vulnerability assessment to identify properties that are most likely to be at risk,†the report says.
Despite the increasing attacks in hotels, the report says many owners and managers have been reluctant to equip their buildings with more security measures, which can be cumbersome and inconvenience guests.
But in the wake of recent lawsuits, that may be changing.
By Travelmole US
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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