Tourism, Security and Safety From Theory to Practice

Figure 2
Risk ladder of perceived species risks vs actual activity risks.
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individual visitor (“They do a very good job anyway—the ignorance and carelessness
of visitors is to blame for the majority of incidents involving dangerous wildlife”).
However, many of the respondents offered various options for better informing visi-
tors, suggesting that they felt that more could be done and that the responsibility for
providing information lay with the local authorities. Comments in this vein included
“We only found out whilst here about the mosquito—Ross River and dengue—two
of our party have fallen ill with mosquito bites. Doctor reckons it is Ross River. We
were NOT prepared for this and feel it should be more publicized esp. to tourists.”
The other comments of particular interest to the present discussion were those that
highlighted the need for tourist education campaigns that informed rather than fright-
ened visitors. Some of these respondents seemed to be suggesting that too many
warnings could create unnecessary fear, for example, “Show people how to avoid risk
rather than tell people how dangerous and make people feel insecure.” This was sup-
ported by several comments that suggested that some visitors had become frightened
by existing information, for example, “I have been put off swimming in the ocean
even after stinger season was over because jellyfish freak me out.”
In summary, this study highlighted the contrasts in visitor responses to different
wildlife species. For some visitors a species is seen as dangerous but still attractive,
for others the same species can be both dangerous and unattractive, while for still
others it can be attractive but not seen as dangerous. Visitors were also generally not
well informed and the majority of the present sample felt that more could be done to
inform them about the risks associated with wildlife in the region. Although visitors
generally overestimated the level of risk associated with wildlife, nearly one third
saw no reason to change their behaviors in response to potential risks from wildlife
encounters. Finally, the study also found evidence of differences in visitor percep-
tions of responsibility for managing the risks associated with wildlife encounters.