Crime perceptions among international leisure tourists in Cape Town

Purpose The main purpose of the study is to determine international leisure tourist perceptions with regard to crime, to assess the influence of demographic factors and to investigate the influence of prior, during and post-visit measures on international leisure tourists’ crime perceptions. Design/methodology/approach A personal intercept interview survey was used to collect the data at popular Cape Town (CT) tourist attractions via structured questionnaires. A generalized linear model was used to statistically assess respondents’ crime-related perceptions. Qualitative data was also generated via individual in-depth interviews, which were conducted among nine international leisure tourists. Findings The study found that international leisure tourists exhibited favorable sentiments regarding crime preparations; general safety information; post-visit crime related perceptions but were less positive about security safety information during their visit. International leisure tourists maintained that crime did not inhibit their activities and was not worse than anticipated during their visit. A majority of tourists indicated that they were not deterred by crime and would revisit CT. Research limitations/implications The research was limited to a single city and to English-speaking international leisure tourists. The study was cross sectional in nature and the number of data collection sites was limited to four of the popular tourist attractions in CT. Practical implications The study showed that a relatively high number of international leisure tourists had either witnessed or experienced crime in CT. Hence, a separate South African Police Service tourism protection unit could be established to help circumvent crime in CT. Originality/value The study used both quantitative and qualitative approaches to provide a comprehensive overview of international leisure tourist crime perceptions, which included prior, during and post-visit measures, of one of the top tourist destinations in the world. Additionally, this study is one of the few recent endeavors to assess the influence of a broad range of demographic and crime-related factors on international leisure tourists’ prior, during and post-visit crime perceptions in an African developing country.