US, March 9 -- When travelers check into a hotel overlooking the Mediterranean, stroll through ancient ruins, or pass through a busy international airport, they rarely imagine these places becoming targets of war. Yet over the past half-century, tourism infrastructure-from luxury hotels to UNESCO heritage sites and civil aviation hubs-has increasingly appeared in the crosshairs of armed conflict.

The pattern has alarmed tourism leaders, who warn that modern warfare is eroding the long-standing notion that tourism sites are neutral spaces. Hotels have been bombed, airports seized or destroyed, and cultural monuments deliberately demolished.

Now the World Tourism Network (WTN) is calling on the United Nations and UN Tourism to establish g...