Tourism, Security and Safety From Theory to Practice

The Impact of Crime on Tourism Demand
The impact of crime on tourist arrivals is a major concern to tourist destina-
tions. Most tourist destinations try to paint a beautiful picture of their areas in
order to entice travelers to visit. But governments as well as the media fre-
quently warn the public about the dangers of traveling to destinations that are
frequently plagued by criminal activities against tourists. In the United States,
the State Department issues travel warnings for certain countries and areas to
warn potential tourists of safety/security concerns, sometimes suggesting that
Americans avoid traveling to certain areas altogether. The news media also
plays a role in the dissemination of this information. As an example, an Annual
Personal Safety Survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting, cited in the
British 
Daily Telegraph
(Starmer-Smith, 2003) listed the world’s most crime-
prone tourist destinations. In order of severity, they were Kingston, Jamaica;
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Cape Town, South Africa; Mexico City, Mexico;
St. Petersburg, Russia; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Bangkok, Thailand;
Washington, DC, USA; Rome, Italy; and Athens, Greece. Information obtained
by tourists from media accounts or articles such as these could greatly affect a
tourist’s travel decisions.
Hong Kong, another tourist destination known for crime prevalence, had expe-
rienced in 2003 an escalation of street crime, which may have been the cause of a
downturn in demand. Hong Kong had three times as many pickpocketing cases in
2003 as for the same period in 1998 (Fraser, 2003).
Negative media attention on a tourist destination in relationship to crime inci-
dents can sometimes be blown out of proportion (Crystal, 1993). In the case of the
murder of a pregnant German mother in Miami and a male British tourist near
Tallahassee, Florida, tourism to Florida declined significantly. Media accounts
suggested that crime was rampant against Florida tourists while official statistics
told another story. These statistics showed that crime reported by nonresidents had
in fact been on the decline in Florida since 1990; however, the perception of crime
became reality following the much publicized shootings and tourist arrivals
declined (Schiebler, Crotts, and Hillinger, 1995).
Although often ranked by travel intermediaries as one of the top three US urban
destinations, New Orleans, another destination known for its high crime rates, has
been threatened by the negative perceptions of potential tourists and meeting
planners. During the early 90s New Orleans had a murder rate eight times that of
the national average and five times that of New York City. Residents as well as vis-
itors experienced theft and muggings, even in the streets of the French Quarter.
Negative media coverage as well as anonymous letters sent to meeting planners
regarding high crime rates contributed to this negative perception. In a study of
350 meeting planners and tour operators conducted by the University of New
Orleans, New Orleans scored the lowest of eight cities regarding perception of vis-
itor safety (Anonymous, 1996). These safety concerns seem to be more prevalent
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among travel intermediaries than among tourists themselves. At the time of the
article, a New Orleans visitor profile report indicated that 82.4% of the respon-
dents perceived New Orleans to be a somewhat safe or safe destination (Dimanche
and Moody, 1997). The authors note that the results could be explained by the fact
that visitors who have actually made the decision to travel to New Orleans could
be considered risk takers and they have chosen the destination for its risqué image
(Dimanche and Lepetic, 1999).
Alleyne and Boxill (2003) examined the relationship between tourist arrivals
and crime rates in Jamaica. The results showed that crime rates had an overall neg-
ative effect on most markets. Though the impact of crime on the overall market
was relatively small, the impact on European arrivals was large and significant.
The authors provided several reasons for the above results, the most important of
which was that with the exception of the Europeans, most tourists in Jamaica
stayed in all-inclusive resorts and had very little contact with the outside world.
The Europeans, however, did not frequent all-inclusive resorts, making them more
susceptible to crimes (Alleyne and Boxill, 2003).