The vulnerability of tourism firms’ stocks to the terrorist incidents

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of terrorist attacks on the stock performance of tourism, travel, and leisure industries. The major tourist countries have been selected for this purpose. The novelty of this research is that not only it focuses on the relationship between terrorism and tourism stock performance and volatility but also uses an event study to examine this relationship. The results of this study revealed the significant effects of terrorist attacks on tourism firms’ performance and stock volatility in France, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States, while no significant effects were obtained for China and Germany. The overall panel event study analysis as well as the event study for individual countries illustrated the considerable adverse effects of terrorist attacks on firms’ performance in tourism, travel, and leisure industries.