Tourism, Security and Safety From Theory to Practice

Conclusions
This study was set up to determine what, if any, the effects are of having experi-
enced or knowing of someone who has experienced an incidence of theft on a trip,
on the likelihood to travel to the destination where the theft occurred.
The results of the study clearly demonstrated that having been a victim of a theft,
or knowing of someone who has been such a victim while on a trip, did not affect
the likelihood to travel to the destination where the theft occurred. Furthermore,
with the exception of one factor, namely the manner in which the crime report was
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handled by the authorities, no other factor had any positive or negative effect on the
likelihood to travel to the destination where the theft occurred.
More specifically the study did not find any difference in the likelihood to travel
between those who have personally experienced a theft versus those who knew of
someone who had. Second, the passing of time since a theft occurred had no effect
on the decision to travel to the same destination. Third, the likelihood to travel to
the affected destination was not significantly different between those who experi-
enced a theft “not off their persons” and those who had experienced a theft “off
their person.” Fourth, the perceived severity of the incident did not have any sig-
nificant effect on one’s decision to travel to the destination where the theft
occurred. Fifth, the study found no significant correlation between previous “non-
trip related crime victimization” and the likelihood to travel to the destination
where a theft occurred. Sixth, it was found that the passing of time, learning of
someone’s positive experience, and learning from the media about the destination’s
effort to make it safer did not change the mind of tourists once they have decided
not to travel to a destination where a theft occurred.
Last, but not least, as mentioned above, the study found a positive correlation
between the satisfaction with the manner in which the authorities handled the report-
ing of the theft and the likelihood to visit or revisit the destination where the theft
occurred. The results of this study indicated that over 41% of the respondents gave a
negative evaluation to the manner in which the authorities handled the crime report.
But for the remaining 59%, proper handling of the crime incident lessened the neg-
ative feelings experienced by the theft victims and led to increased likelihood of
future visitation. Destinations should take lessons from the city of Amsterdam that
has developed a very effective victims’ assistance program developed to reduce
crime victims’ negative feelings towards the city (Hauber and Zandbergen, 1999).
In summary, this study provided some valuable information for tourist destina-
tions regarding one’s decision to travel to a destination where a theft occurred.
A majority of the respondents (55%) indicated that, even though they experienced
theft or knew of someone who did, they would definitely travel to that destination.
Does Theft Affect Tourist Destination Decisions?
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