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9/11 affects overseas study of area students |
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Many area colleges and universities are only now beginning to recover from the negatives effects of 9/11 on their study abroad programs
Reporting Spring 2004 |
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HARRISBURG, Pa. – Traveling overseas can be an amazing experience for students of all ages. However, with the tragedy of 9/11 sending the travel industry into a downward spiral, colleges and universities in Pennsylvania became aware of the significant damage to the travel industry and braced itself for the repercussions amid their international studies programs. The travel industry is the second largest industry in the United States, accounting for more than 18 million jobs and generating $582 billion in 2000. However it found itself ill-prepared to handle the effects of 9/11. It had already struggled through a difficult summer season that left many barely surviving. The rising gas prices and weak economy caused many vacationers to either cancel their trips or significantly downsize the trips to more affordable locations. Business trips were cancelled, and those that couldn’t be were planned well enough in advance in order to get the cheapest fares, a move that really hurt the industry as business trips make up the core of travel. Airlines were predicted to lose $1.2 billion and the industry prepared itself to handle an even bleaker fall season. However it was not expecting a major national disaster involving airplanes that would send them even further into the red. In 2002, America’s travel industry was still trying to motivate its citizens to travel. However the still bleak economy added to the fear of flying did nothing to help the slump. Americans were still traveling, but they were traveling on shorter trips that were closer to home and weren’t planning them in advance. The result rocked the industry. Airlines cut 80,000 jobs, cruise lines were forced to find new places for people to get on their ships since they wouldn’t fly anymore, the hotel industry cut their room prices by huge amounts and still only filled about 66 percent of their rooms. The slump wasn’t only felt in America. Europe, greatly dependent on American tourist dollars, quickly felt the pain of 9/11 as well. France’s hotel bookings by Americans fell more than 16 percent while Britain, already hurting from the 17.5 percent drop in Americans in 2001, lost another 1.3 percent in 2002. Studying abroad almost always rewards the student that chooses to go overseas with an experience that he or she will never forget or regret. Being able to earn school credit while experiencing new cultures not like a tourist would but as a resident of the country intrigues and thrills many students. For some institutions, getting students to make the jump from thinking about it to actually applying to go is the most difficult challenge for the program. Penny Carlson, international studies advisor at Penn State Harrisburg, recently shared her excitement about sending five applications for review for studying overseas in the spring of 2005, the most that have ever applied for international studies at one time. For other institutions, studying abroad is almost expected of the students, such as Dickinson College, which prides itself on its long tradition of sending students overseas and has a participant rate of over 80 percent. After 9/11, Pennsylvania academic institutions feared the worst, a plunge in their programs that for some institutions were barely sending students to begin with. Central Pennsylvania colleges and universities realized that fear when their international programs took the very dives they feared and are still struggling to get back the momentum they once had. Marsha Hajduk, international studies director for Harrisburg Area Community College, said that 9/11 definitely stopped the amount of students that choose to study abroad. “We have a package that includes London and France together that we registered about 50 students to go. However, we used to have like, 80 students. It’s never gone back to what it was since 9/11,” she said. Carlson shared a similar opinion among Penn State Harrisburg students noticing the downward trend that has only now started to pick itself back up to what it used to be. Central Pennsylvania academic institutions felt the sting more so then neighboring communities because of its conservative state. “Central Pennsylvania is a very conservative area. The people are already skeptical to travel in the first place and this [9/11, the war] just fuels the fire,” said Hajduk. Other Pennsylvania colleges and universities hardly felt the impact of 9/11, if at all. Temple University felt no impact in international studies whatsoever; neither did Dickinson College, with its 25 own international studies programs in place. The University of Pennsylvania also felt no impact due to 9/11 or even from current world events. “There was no change whatsoever. We have guidelines in place and we’ve had them for 25 years, well before any incident to keep students safe,” said Geoffrey Gee, international studies director at the University of Pennsylvania. Though students appear to not be affected by world events, their colleges and universities are and have taken precautionary steps to protect their students. Each school works very closely with the U.S. Department of State following their guidelines for traveling abroad. The U.S. Department of State officially releases any potential danger to Americans who choose to travel overseas as often as it needs to as well as providing background information on over 170 countries discussing everything from geography to customs to current political situations so students can best prepare themselves for whatever country they are planning to study in. The Department of State also offers a great deal of advice on how to face situations while overseas, such as avoiding civil demonstrations, for they can turn anti-American, and where to locate American embassies to help students should they find themselves in danger and need a way out. “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime," once said Mark Twain. Though Americans still seem a little wary of going overseas to broaden their horizons, with a war still going on and bombings in countries that were thought of as major tourist countries, students seem to not share the sentiment of being too afraid to learn. While some universities boast of no drop in the amount of participants who chose to study abroad, other schools that did feel the impact are beginning to climb out of their slump. Hopefully, the rest of America will follow the attitudes of their children and start to venture overseas again and help the tourism industry start a path towards recovery both in American and overseas, where for as much as they enjoy complaining about Americans, Europe sure does miss their dollars. All stories in this magazine are the intellectual property of the individual authors. You may email comments about this story to: mxr300@psu.edu
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