II
Tourism and Crime
Issues
Yoel Mansfeld and Abraham Pizam
This section discusses issues related to crimes
committed against tourists or occurring at tourist
destinations. As seen in the three chapters the
impacts of crime on the destination are not uni-
form.
In some cases, such as crimes related to
drug use, the destination’s image is tarnished and
results in significant decline in tourist demand. On
the other hand, thefts committed at tourist destina-
tions did not necessarily reduce the tendency to
visit or revisit the affected destination. The same
was true for the circumstance of the criminal act.
In some cases the tourists were innocent victims
being in the wrong place at the wrong time, while
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Tourism Security and Safety: From Theory to Practice
84
in others the tourists contributed to their own victimization by soliciting some
illicit activities.
In the first chapter of this section, Jerome McElroy discusses the spread of the
narcoeconomy within the Caribbean islands and its short-term and long-term
impacts on the tourism industry. Based on his analysis of primary and secondary
sources the author concludes that the narcoeconomy with its violence, addiction,
and corruption poses the greatest known threat to
the viability of the tourism
industry in the Caribbean islands. This occurs because:
■
The perception of danger or irritation tarnishes a destination’s reputation;
■
Visitors have been shown to be more likely than residents to be victims of crime;
■
Tourist attractions are more likely to become crime “hot spots”;
■
There is a known correlation between crime increase and visitor fallout;
■
Drug peddlers constantly harass tourists;
■
The presence of large numbers of uniformed police and sniffing dogs at major
tourist attractions creates a negative security image and may affect word-of-mouth
recommendations and preference for a return visit;
■
The
high cost of security, in both the private and public sectors, forces tourist oper-
ators to raise their prices and makes Caribbean tourism less competitive;
■
Lack of tourism safety and security makes investment in the tourism industry unat-
tractive; and
■
Protecting tourists by placing them in gated all-inclusive resorts generates feelings
of resentment and inequality from the local population.
Judy Holcomb and Abraham Pizam conducted an empirical study among US
travelers, the purpose of which was to determine what, if any, effects
past incidents
of personal theft have on tourists’ future decisions to travel to the affected destina-
tion. This was done by analyzing two study groups, those who have experienced
personal thefts while on a trip, and those who had heard of such incidents through
personal accounts of friends or family. The results of their study demonstrated that
having been a victim of a theft or knowing of someone who has been such a vic-
tim while on a trip did not affect the likelihood to travel
to the destination where
the theft occurred.
The study found:
■
No difference in the likelihood to travel to a crime-affected destination between those
who have personally experienced a theft versus those who knew of someone who had;
■
That the passing of time since a theft occurred had no effect on the decision to
travel to the same destination;
■
That the likelihood to travel to the affected destination was not significantly dif-
ferent between those who experienced a theft “on their person” and those who had
experienced a theft “off their person”;
■
That the perceived severity of the incident did not have any significant effect on
the decision to travel to the destination
where the theft occurred;
■
No significant correlation between previous “non-trip related crime victimization”
and the likelihood to travel to the destination where a theft occurred;
■
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; and
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Tourism
and Crime Issues
85
■
A positive correlation between the satisfaction with the manner in which the
authorities handled the reporting of the theft and the likelihood to visit or revisit
the destination where the theft occurred.
Based on the results of this study the authors suggest that destinations that are
afflicted by thefts similar to the ones described in the chapter should not necessarily
expect a reduction in tourist arrivals.
Dee Wood Harper analyzed street robberies against tourists in the Vieux Carré
area of New Orleans. He concludes that many of the circumstances surrounding
the robbery incidents—which he called contextual weaknesses—and especially the
activities of the tourist themselves increased their vulnerability to attack. For
example:
■
In quite a few incidents the victims had developed some relationship with the
offender
before the robbery, such as going with the offender to procure a paid sex
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