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Olsen and Cassee (1996) have identified five global forces that would drive the tourism industry in the new millennium. Safety and security is one of the five forces. People are concerned with safety and security as the incidence of perceived violence increases. Visitor safety and security remains an important topic worldwide. Perceived or real threats to visitor safety and security have immediate impacts on destinations reputation and can dramatically affect visitation. If visitors safety is not well managed, adverse incidents can significantly impact on the profitability and sustainability of an individual business, community and destination. If a visitor feels threatened or unsafe during a trip this may affect their length of stay and expenditure in a destination and decreases the likelihood of repeat visitation and word of mouth referrals. If a destination develops a negative image for visitor safety this will likely result in a declining visitor market for the region.
It is undeniable fact that safety and security are concepts that are, at present, central not just to tourism and hospitality but the wider world. Safety and security concerns not only affects individual tourism decision-making but also have a broader influence on economic, and political confident, which as a result affects the wider environment within which the tourism industry thrives and operates. Tourism is irrevocably bound up with concept of safety and security, tourist behavior and consequently, destinations are deeply affected by perceptions of security and the management of safety, risks and crises (Hall and Ochlers, 2000). According to Goodman (1996), the basic management function of planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling describes the basic tasks of management and as such issues relating to safety and security do not really fit into any of this core function. However, both management and staff believe that the subject is vital.