Thinking about “tourism security”
August 2002
Tourism security constantly seems to be in the news. Often the term is used so much that we forget what we mean by security and what we are hoping to achieve with it. The travel and visitor industry has always had a love-hate relationship with security. On one hand, travel and tourist professionals realize that tourism cannot prosper if there are well-publicized acts of violence. Thus, the need for investing in security. On the other hand, people within the tourism industry often are stuck in the old paradigmatic belief that security adds nothing to the bottom line and that tourists/visitors are afraid of security. This mistaken notion may come from the fact that often security is carried out without the proper understanding of the tourism industry by so called tourism security experts and that tourism officials often fail to provide their security people with sufficient resources and training. In reality we are not speaking just about tourism security, but rather “tourism surety”. Tourism surety may be defined as the point where security, industry economic viability and safety meet. In matters of tourism surety it does not matter if an incident is based on a crime, a terrorist attack, a health crisis or a business mistake. The bottom line is that where there is a lack of tourism surety the industry eventually withers and dies. “Surety” touches then on a number of areas to consider. Here are just a few of the many sub-areas that covered by the term “tourism surety”.
- Protection of the visitor/tourist from locals and other visitors. Often we forget that not all visitors are good. We hope that most people are honest and seek nothing more than wonderful memories, but there are also people who travel to other places specifically to prey on them. For example, pick-pockets travel from event to event and from place to place. These people act like tourists but come to a destination specifically to prey on other tourists. A good tourism surety program helps safety and security officials know how to distinguish the good tourist from the bad.
- Protecting the visitor/traveler from the industry itself. If travel and tourism are to be credible industries than they must more than merely offer good service at fair prices. Perhaps the number one complaint that travelers have is that too much false information is given and too few promises are kept. The airline industry is a good example of this frustration. Visitors are often moved from counter to counter, given misinformation and made to feel less than comfortable. This misinformation not only leads to issues of “rage” but also attacks the industry’s credibility. The fact that all too often tourism officials are now hearing about an “international no fly day” when travelers simply refuse to fly is an indication of just how serious this problem is. If the travel providers cannot provide clean, safe, secure and efficient service than the entire tourism industry may be at risk.
- Protecting staff. Tourism surety programs work at making sure that the staff members who work in hotels, restaurants, on ships and airplanes etc are safe and trained in what to do, whom to watch out for, and how to protect themselves. This does not mean that each staff member needs to be an expert in karate, but it does mean that a tourism protection plan needs to be in place whenever people are working.
- Protecting the tourism environment. This category includes everything from the local ecology to the assurances that we give our visitors that the water they consume or the food they eat will not make them sick. We should never forget that a visitor’s travel experience can be just as easily ruined by contaminated food as it can be ruined by a criminal act.
- Site protection. Visitors often abuse local sites, whether these sites are: attractions, museums or hotels. A good tourism surety program examines the physical environment and matches it with the type of visitor who uses the site. Site protection needs may change during different periods of the year. For example a beach community may attract many young college students during spring break, but switch to family oriented vacations during other seasons in the year.
- Protecting the destination’s reputation. It can take years and millions of dollars to regain the public confidence after a major crime spell, health disaster or environment crisis. Yet all too often the tourism and visitor industry professional gives nothing more than lip service to a good tourism surety program. It is a lot less expensive to prevent a mishap than it is to recover one’s reputation.
- Protecting a destination from risk and from possible litigation. A good tourism security program involves not only security and safety issues, but also seeks to manage risk. In tourism risk management is an important aspect of tourism safety and security. Preventing a negative incident is more important than recovering from an incident and can avoid expensive litigation and lawyers’ fees.
