The impact of crime on tourism

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of crime on the development of the South African tourism industry. The research methodology used to obtain the results was twofold. Firstly, a literature study based on articles, books, brochures, master's and doctoral theses and an internet survey was done in order to develop a questionnaire, and secondly an empirical research survey of a hundred and fifty questionnaires was distributed among respondents in order to obtain the views of and information from tour operators. South African Tourism (SATOUR) was contacted in connection with certain statistics regarding crime. As a result of the complexity of determining this impact, it was deemed necessary to follow an integrated system to determine where crime started to impact on tourism. This integrated system included the travel decision-making process, which involved all the different phases of the process of choosing a destination. It was also important to clarify the difference between terrorism and crime. Various safety strategies from different localities world-wide were discussed and compared to South Africa's safety strategy. These safety strategies clearly indicated that a well-formulated, flexible strategy is required for every country. The research indicated that South Africa finds itself in a good position to be globally competitive, but crime and perceptions of crime can have a serious impact on competitiveness. Perceptions and crime both contribute to the disregarding of a destination and play an equally important role when it comes to travel decisionmaking. General crime occurs all over the world and is not aimed directly at the tourism industry. Terrorism on the other hand is aimed at a government or state, and there is no better way to hit at a government than to target a country's tourism industry, on which most countries are totally dependent and which meets precisely the requirements and resources of terrorism. The research indicated that when a destination is disregarded, it can have ramifications with regard to tourism development, economic growth and development, as well as employment opportunities. During this research it was found that there are no tourist-related crime statistics, something which indicates a need for a system to monitor tourist-related crime. This lack of information once more emphasises that much more primary research is required as far as safety and security are concerned. This shortcoming contributed to the complexity of this research in determining the impact of crime on tourism. Case studies clearly indicated that over-exploitation by the media, crime and acts of terrorism can create a very negative image and contribute to the disregarding of a tourist destination. It is therefore of decisive importance to inform tourists more effectively regarding safety and security and to focus on more positive marketing, especially by word-of-mouth. A positive future vision for the tourism industry depends largely on the ability to change these weaknesses (safety and negative perceptions) into opportunities, in the striving to combat crime and to become one of the world's top tourism destinations.