Tourists’ views on safety and vulnerability. A study of some selected towns in Ghana

Providing security for tourists has become an imperative and any destination which ignores this responsibility stands to lose out on the keen competition for the tourist dollar. One way to provide security for tourists is to seek their own views on such matters. Studies which seek to do such are relatively underrepresented in the literature. Using the accidental sampling method and questionnaires, this paper sought primarily to understand tourists’ perspectives on issues concerning safety and security in Ghana. It was observed that tourists felt most unsafe at attraction sites as compared to accommodation and in open spaces, and, rather interestingly, it emerged that they do not necessarily equate security to the presence of uniformed personnel but rather conceptualize it within the triple framework of space, order and professionalism. It was also observed that the fear of crime/vulnerability varies significantly across important socio-demographic variables (especially age).