Locations recovering from conflict encounter difficulty rebuilding their tourism sectors. Factors include infrastructure devastation and persistent perception of danger. This work seeks to answer the following research questions: For those who do venture into these locations soon after war or in the midst of it, what are their characteristics and motivations? Would understanding these early travelers allow recovering locations to target them through early marketing to speed tourism sector recovery and overall economic rebuilding, perhaps leading to a faster shift in outside perceptions? Methodology is a mixed methods approach with primary emphasis on qualitative analysis of 10 interviews with recent travelers to Iraq. Questions examine motivations, perceptions, media research, prior travel frequency, among other factors, along with a Risk-Taking Behavior survey. Subjects are recruited from tour companies and independent travelers. The researchers will also test robustness of traditional analysis of qualitative data by a comparative analysis using both traditional and data analysis software such as NVivo.