Tourism Crime, Safety and Security Issues: The case of a Local South African Municipality

Abstract

This paper focuses on the criminal activities which have been identified as hindering and crippling the tourism industry at uMhlathuze Local Municipality in the KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. The main aim of the study was to establish if any mechanisms are in place to curb crime and enhance the safety of tourists within the study area. A structured questionnaire survey and face-to-face interviews were used to collect data. The study used a convenience sampling method to select 124 participants, from different parts of the study area. The results indicate that even though there are some mechanisms in place criminal activities continue occurring in and around uMhlathuze Local Municipality. Some of these criminal activities are not reported to the local authorities and are not known by the community members and thus downplayed. This study recommends that organizations such as Tourism KwaZulu-Natal that are responsible for marketing and promoting tourism, together with uMhlathuze Local Municipality tourism support officers should bring some safety measures and crime tourism awareness by organizing workshops and seminars related to tourist’s safety and security at different towns and villages of the local municipality, targeting youths.

Keywords

• tourism crime
• tourists
• criminal activities
• safety and security