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Visitor Safety in Urban Tourism Environments: The Case of Auckland, New Zealand
Visitor Safety in Urban Tourism Environments: The Case of Auckland, New Zealand
PII: S0264-2751(02)00024-0
www.elsevier.com/locate/cities
*Stephen J. Page
Department of Marketing, University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland FK9 4LA, UK
There is limited research relating to urban tourism and the behaviour of visitors within the
urban environment. Comparatively few studies of perceptions of safety in urban areas exist.
As a result, there is a poor understanding of visitor safety issues, particularly in relation to
special events. This paper examines the scope and dimensions of visitor safety during one
hallmark sporting event in Auckland, New Zealand during 20002001 the Americas Cup.
The research reviews both the existing research on tourist safety and crime in urban areas
and establishes the nature and impact of a sporting event on tourist-related crime. 2002
Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: safety, visitor perceptions, special events, urban tourism
Introduction
273
Visitor safety in urban tourism environments: Michael Barker and Stephen J Page
Visitor safety in urban tourism environments: Michael Barker and Stephen J Page
Methodology
The measurement of visitor perceptions of safety is
critical to identifying and addressing the needs and
concerns of tourists and thereby improving their travel
experience. This was considered of particular importance in this study given the lack of research in urban
destinations and at special events. In order to ascertain
these perceptions, a convenience sample of domestic
and international visitors to Auckland was derived
between December 1999 and March 2000 during the
Americas Cup regatta. This involved some 1003 personal interviews of visitors aged 16 years and above
which were conducted in downtown Auckland and the
Viaduct Basin where the Americas Cup syndicates
had their bases and a Cup Village was constructed
for the event. In order to ensure representation of a
wide range of visitor types, surveys were conducted
at various times between daylight hours of 9 a.m.9
p.m. and across each day of the week.1
Main findings
Of the 1003 respondents, 29% were domestic tourists
and 71% were visiting from any one of 45 overseas
countries, predominantly those in Europe and North
America. There was a wide representation of age
groups in the sample and a high proportion of visitors
indicated that they were either travelling alone (34%)
or with one other person (44%). The characteristics of
1
Questions on travel and demographic information were included
and the survey was divided into three major parts those being
visitor perceptions, concerns and experiences of crime and safety.
Part one of the survey asked visitors to rate their perceptions of
safety based on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from very unsafe
to very safe. A further scale rated visitor perceptions from very
poor to excellent based on experiences had in downtown Auckland where the Americas Cup and Viaduct Basin were based. The
second part of the survey examined visitor concerns for personal
safety arising from the potential for criminal victimisation and
whether these had in any way impeded the visitors intended travel
behaviour. Concerns for victimisation were measured on a 4-point
Likert scale ranging from not at all concerned to very concerned. Visitors were also asked to indicate whether their concerns
were less, the same or greater as a tourist to New Zealand than
when they were in their home environment.
275
Visitor safety in urban tourism environments: Michael Barker and Stephen J Page
276
0.000
0.000
0.970
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.451
0.373
Mean
4.38
4.05
4.49
4.42
3.62
3.91
4.12
4.19
Overseas
4.11
3.71
4.49
4.26
3.29
3.42
4.09
4.15
4.49
4.19
4.48
4.49
3.75
4.11
4.14
4.20
Visitor safety in urban tourism environments: Michael Barker and Stephen J Page
Table 2 Visitor perceptions of downtown Auckland
Experience variable
The
The
The
The
The
The
friendliness of people
quality of service from local businesses
prices of goods and services
feeling of safety
amount of lighting at night
number of police and security
0.000
0.008
0.000
0.001
0.074
0.170
Mean
4.10
3.91
3.41
4.14
3.70
3.64
Overseas
3.81
3.81
2.94
4.00
3.63
3.70
4.21
3.95
3.60
4.20
3.73
3.61
number of travelling companions affected tourist perceptions and concerns regarding crime and safety.
The highest proportion of tourists who were slightly
concerned or very concerned about being physically
attacked or robbed included Japanese (46.4%), visitors of other decent (43.4%) and other Asians
(38.9%). This expression of concern may be due to
cultural reasons or a perceived vulnerability among
these groups because of their ethnic and touristic visibility whilst travelling, although additional research
will help explain such factors. Indeed, previous
research (eg Barker, 2000) has found that the real or
perceived visibility generated by being a tourist contributed to significant levels of apprehension among
some tourists. The highest levels of racially-motivated
concern were expressed by other Asian, other origin
and Japanese tourists. However, on average there was
less concern regarding overall personal safety than
when at home (P0.02). With the exception of racial
harassment, domestic visitors tended to be more concerned about crime than visitors from overseas. This
was most apparent with regards to concerns for theft
or burglary, where 64% of domestic tourists were
concerned about being victimised compared with 47%
of overseas tourists. This was a significant result at
the 1% level of significance. The threat of sexual harassment or attack was understandably higher among
female tourists than for male tourists, although 93%
of tourists (and 90.1% of women) felt that the risk of
sexual victimisation was less than or no different to
the risk they would encounter at home.
Fear of crime Of the respondents who participated in
the survey, 10.1% of tourists indicated that they had
felt unsafe at some stage during their travel. The
major sources from which this fear was derived were
related to the perception of personal vulnerability of
the tourist. Fear among tourists was related to gender,
group size and age, whereby women, those travelling
alone and teenagers encountered some experience
where they had reason to fear for their safety. Fear
was also statistically related to the domestic/overseas
status of the tourist at the 5% level of significance (
P = 0.003), where, interestingly, domestic tourists
were more likely than overseas tourists to experience
277
Visitor safety in urban tourism environments: Michael Barker and Stephen J Page
Table 3 Visitor concern for crime
Concern variable
Racially harassed
Property stolen through theft or burglary
Attacked or robbed
Sexually harassed or attacked
Overall Concern
Relative to Home
69.3
23.7
36.8
67.3
17.8
24.3
34.6
18.4
10.3
40.6
22.8
10.0
2.6
11.5
5.9
4.4
19.8
18.8
18.5
11.8
67.2
60.7
67.3
81.2
13.0
20.5
14.2
7.1
Note: Tourists rated each concern variable on two different Likert scales. Overall Concern refers to concerns in New Zealand where 1=Not at all
concerned, 2=Not very concerned, 3=Slightly concerned, 4=Very concerned. Respondents concern Relative to Home is measured by 1=Less,
2=Same, 3=More
Day of arrest
Day of arrest
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
TOTAL
%
39
47
58
57
101
122
87
511
7.6
9.2
11.4
11.2
19.8
23.9
17.0
100.0
Visitor safety in urban tourism environments: Michael Barker and Stephen J Page
Table 5 Time of arrest
Time of arrest
06.0008.59
09.0011.59
12.0014.59
15.0017.59
18.0020.59
21.0023.59
00.0002.59
03.0005.59
TOTAL
Missing
10
14
12
33
38
91
136
53
387
124
2.6
3.6
3.1
8.5
9.8
23.5
35.1
13.7
100.0
Management implications
There are important management implications for
those involved in policing urban areas and hosting
special events. At a management level, this will
require increased coordination between the tourism
sector and security professionals including the timing
and planning of events (Tarlow, 2000; World Tourism
Organisation, 1996). The nature of this research will
allow police and the tourism industry to identify
exactly where their crime prevention and education
efforts need to occur. Yet, one of the potential
obstacles that may hinder future resourcing from the
funding bodies and management of tourism destinations and police departments is the lack of criminal
activity associated with the 2000 Americas Cup: this
was insufficient to justify significant future resources
and expenditure associated with crime prevention for
tourists and specifically at special events. However,
one of the primary reasons for the low incidence of
crime can be attributed to the strong policing measures being in place. What is more, differences in the
concerns and victimisation rates of visitor groups, and
evidence of increased crime at previous events indicate that the potential for increased crime is real and
therefore it cannot be discounted at other events.
There are implications for ensuring the provision
of safety in tourist areas through crime prevention
through environmental design (CPTED) as evident
from the Americas Cup Village. The hosting of the
Americas Cup and the associated development of
bars at the Viaduct Basin has led to a change in the
social network of the city. Whether this has merely
279
Visitor safety in urban tourism environments: Michael Barker and Stephen J Page
Policy recommendations
There appears to be a lack of collaboration in Auckland with respect to implementing a common strategy
for making the central city a safer place to visit. Interest groups such as the Auckland City Council and
Safer Auckland, residents groups, the business, retail
and hospitality sector and the police need to recognise
safety in Auckland City as part of a long-term and
holistic strategy that is essential to attracting visitors,
the community, new residents and shoppers into the
central city, as there seems to be a lack of coordination and reluctance to address the safety issues firsthand. Yet, there still seems to be some apprehension
among city groups towards safety issues and a lack
of coordination to achieve safety objectives for the
city and this is counter-productive. The same issues
relating to improving safety are recurring and include
increased police/security presence and improved
lighting; however, there has been a limited response
to these areas.
In central Auckland there are 16 closed-circuit television cameras (CCTVs) currently in operation by
police at known hotspots and these account for a substantial proportion of arrests each year. Yet CCTV is
not without its critics as a policy instrument. Fyfe and
Banister (1996) questioned the efficacy of deploying
public sector resources on capital-intensive measures
such as CCTV, where the main beneficiaries financially are local businesses that can develop additional
trade. Furthermore, theoretical debates by Giddens
(1984) have questioned the role of CCTV as it highlights prevention rather than solution in what has been
termed the pursuit of ontological security and a
decline in urban public life. From a criminological
perspective, Fyfe and Banister (1996) also point to a
potential growth in bystander indifference and a drop
in the propensity to report incidents to the police.
Ironically, when the public have been surveyed on
attitudes to CCTV and its use in public places as a
surveillance tool to prevent crime, it has been posi280
Conclusion
The study has been important not just from the perspective of assessing the impact of special events on
crime, but for analysing the intricacies of crimes
against tourists in urban areas. It was also identified
that one of the common weaknesses in the literature
was a general failure to identify visitor perceptions
and concerns of safety. Yet, the paradox is that the
perception of crime by tourists is critical to understanding and satisfying their intrinsic needs for safety
and in generating repeat visitors. Hosting special
Visitor safety in urban tourism environments: Michael Barker and Stephen J Page
reported tourist crime was low. However, both perceptions and victimisation differed significantly
among identifiable visitor groups including the
domestic/international status and gender. The availability and consumption of alcohol played a major
part on criminal activity during the Americas Cup, a
high police presence and the confined area of the
Viaduct Basin made policing far more effective. The
visible presence of police has been considered an
important factor for improving perceptions of safety
and deterring crime and this strategy proved highly
effective during the Americas Cup. In terms of victimisation rates, overseas tourists appeared more
likely to be victimised than domestic tourists. Similarly, several concerns were expressed towards safety
among some visitor groups, particularly towards
crimes with potential racial motivations and these
need to be addressed. Tourists were most concerned
for the security of their personal property and justifiably so, as property crimes were responsible for the
highest number of offences against tourists. Concerns
for crime, however, were considered no greater that
when at home. Indeed, there are some important
implications for addressing visitor concerns, controlling crime including increased education and
security measures that can be adopted within the tourism industry and by tourists who need to be made
aware of the criminal risks that they may face.
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