Tourism, Security and Safety From Theory to Practice

TIME
Below ART Perceived Risk 
Above ART Perceived Risk 
LOW
PERCEIVED
RISK
Destination-choice
process
In between
period 
Acceptable
Risk
Threshold
(ART)
On site
HIGH 
PERCEIVED
RISK
Pre-next trip
period
Purchase
Travel
Return
Figure 1
Tourists’ perceived security risk along the situational travel behavior sequence.
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this destination as a possible travel destination for their future holiday if they are
at the pre-next trip period (see Figure 1).
It was discussed earlier in this chapter that many researchers came to the con-
clusion that security oriented information is one of the most important perceived
risk reduction factors. In fact, security information helps the formulation not just
of the perceived risk but also each tourist’s ART. However, while perceived risk is
highly influenced by dynamic changes in risk generating factors (such as security
events), ART is less susceptible to occasional security events and is built into our
cognition over a longer period than the tourist travel cycle. Thus, any intervention
to keep tourists committed to their travel choice in each travel sequence stage
should focus on efforts to maintain their risk perception below their ART.
What sources of security information are used at each stage of the travel behavior
sequence? While global mass media and travel advisories provide continuous and sit-
uational security information during all stages of the travel behavior sequence, gov-
ernmental tourism organizations in the affected receiving destinations and the travel
industry in the generating markets provide only reactive situational information
when security events take place and sometimes when the security crisis is over.
However, the latter do not provide it on a continuous basis and do not operate an
ongoing proactive information source that could balance the biased, partial, and
distorted information communicated by travel advisories and the mass media.