Tourism, Security and Safety From Theory to Practice

Severity of Thefts
Respondents were asked to rate the severity of the theft that they or their
friends/relatives experienced on a scale of 1 through 7, where 1 indicates “not
severe at all” and 7 “very severe.” The mean rate of severity reported by the
respondents was 4.7, with a standard deviation of 1.87 and a median of 5.0. Fifteen
percent of the respondents indicated that the theft was not severe and 35% of the
respondents indicated that the theft was either somewhat or very severe.
Reporting Thefts to Authorities
Seventy-nine percent of the respondents indicated that the thefts were reported
to the authorities. When the respondents were asked to rate the manner in
which the theft report was handled by the authorities on a scale of 1 through 7,
where 1 indicates that the theft was handled extremely poorly and 7 indicating
that the theft was handled extremely well, the mean and median were both
4.0, and the standard deviation was 2.1. Of the 138 respondents who indicated
that the theft was reported, 32% claimed that it was handled “poorly” by the
authorities and 31% indicated that the theft was handled “very well” or
“extremely well.”
Likelihood to Consider Traveling to the Affected Destination
When asked to rate the likelihood that they would consider traveling to the affected
destination now or in the future on a scale of 1 through 7, where 1 indicates “def-
Tourism Security and Safety: From Theory to Practice
116
Table 1
Location of Theft
Location of Theft
Percent
At an airport
9.3
In a vehicle (rented or self-owned)
26.3
In a hotel
24.9
While sightseeing (off your person/off the person 
3.9
of whom you learned of the theft)
While on public transportation (off your person/off 
the person of whom you learned of the theft)
9.8
While visiting a tourist attraction, park, or museum 
5.9
(off your person/off the person of whom you 
learned of the theft)
Bar/restaurant
3.9
Home
4.4
Other
11.7
Total
100.0
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initely not” and 7 indicates “definitely yes,” the mean response was 5.5 (“most
likely yes”) with a standard deviation of 2.2 and a median of 7.0. A very large por-
tion of the respondents (55%) said that they would definitely travel now or in the
near future to the destination where the theft occurred.