The Effect of Serious Criminal Offences on International Tourism
Niininen, Milla (2021)
Niininen, Milla
2021
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2021120223409
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2021120223409
Tiivistelmä
The tourism industry it is greatly affected by safety matters such as natural disasters, pandemics, and criminal activity. In some countries criminal activity targeted at tourists is more common. Along with just the immediate effect, these incidents may negatively affect their tourism industry for years to come. This thesis focuses on examining if, how and why violent crime affects the tourism industry, in order to understand what must be taken into consideration to better the situation after such events. Discussing all criminal activity would be too wide for one thesis to cover, so this thesis is ruled to acts considered as serious criminal Offences: kidnappings, homicides, and terrorism. After first taking a look into what these crimes are, their effect on international tourism is studied through real-life cases where the victim was an international tourist, or the targets were large groups of people. The purpose of this research is to find out how and if these serious criminal Offences (terrorism, homicides, and kidnappings) affect international tourism in a destination where such high-profile crimes occur and the goal to enlighten the reasons behind the change in tourism for countries suffering after these serious criminal Offences. The results are beneficial for parties looking to increase international tourism after facing previously mentioned high-profile crimes.
The possible reasons are discussed through the eyes of psychology. If only scratching the surface, it is still crucial to understand that the effect these Offences have cannot be seen as just statistics. These psychological phenomena behind those statistics explain why we e.g., avoid destinations with active warzones.
The work process of this thesis began in Spring of 2021, with the whole process completed in November 2021. An online survey was conducted in November 2021, opening on 8th and closing on 15th. It gained a total of 100 answers and was published on my personal social media channels, as well as matkafoorumi.fi. The answers were examined as percentages, charts and tables. The survey succesfully supported findings within the theoretical framework, proving that travellers do consider safety matters in their international travel decisions. It also indicated something that was not discussed within the theoretical framework: some individuals may fear crimes such as terrorism but are forced to travel because of work or other matters. Examples of psychological phenomena such as risk avoidance, fear of crime and distancing could be noted within the survey results, too. Overall, the survey was a key factor for the success of this thesis that went hand in hand with the theoretical framework. These findings are beneficial for companies that work on improving their customer experiences, as well as for the countries discussed as example cases in the thesis. The precautions taken due to the global pandemic are currently most likely first in the mind for the tourism industry service providers, but the unfortunate truth is that our world does and always will have more safety concerns than just viruses.
The possible reasons are discussed through the eyes of psychology. If only scratching the surface, it is still crucial to understand that the effect these Offences have cannot be seen as just statistics. These psychological phenomena behind those statistics explain why we e.g., avoid destinations with active warzones.
The work process of this thesis began in Spring of 2021, with the whole process completed in November 2021. An online survey was conducted in November 2021, opening on 8th and closing on 15th. It gained a total of 100 answers and was published on my personal social media channels, as well as matkafoorumi.fi. The answers were examined as percentages, charts and tables. The survey succesfully supported findings within the theoretical framework, proving that travellers do consider safety matters in their international travel decisions. It also indicated something that was not discussed within the theoretical framework: some individuals may fear crimes such as terrorism but are forced to travel because of work or other matters. Examples of psychological phenomena such as risk avoidance, fear of crime and distancing could be noted within the survey results, too. Overall, the survey was a key factor for the success of this thesis that went hand in hand with the theoretical framework. These findings are beneficial for companies that work on improving their customer experiences, as well as for the countries discussed as example cases in the thesis. The precautions taken due to the global pandemic are currently most likely first in the mind for the tourism industry service providers, but the unfortunate truth is that our world does and always will have more safety concerns than just viruses.