Citation

George R. Crime Prev. Community Safety 2003; 5(1): 13-25.

Affiliation

School of Management, University of Cape Town

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group -- Palgrave-Macmillan)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate whether tourists who visited Cape Town in August and September 2001 felt safe while staying in and touring round the 'Mother City', and how they perceived safety and security in Cape Town. The findings, which were taken from a survey of 438 visitors to Cape Town, reveal that respondents had reasonably positive perceptions of safety and security, although they felt unsafe going out after dark and using the city's public transport. A number of personal factors, such as nationality and previous experience of crime, were also found to affect respondents' perceptions of crime. These findings are compared with several studies, which include empirical research conducted at other international tourist destinations, the Institute for Security Studies Cape Town Victim Survey, and the South African Tourism data on foreign visitors' perceptions of tourism facilities in the country. In the light of the findings, it is recommended that the tourism industry and law enforcement agencies coordinate efforts to improve crime prevention measures in Cape Town.