ABSTRACT
At the dawn of a new millennium, the tourism industry, the largest and most prosperous industry in the world, is facing a series of increasing security and safety issues that may potentially curtail its development in some countries or entire regions. Considering that a destination’s image is one of the main, if not the major, determinant of travelling, perception of security-related issues by either the travelling public or investors can easily derail the evolutionary process of tourism in a destination. Although the area of security and safety in tourism is a fairly recent field of research, it is well recognised that tourism only thrives under certain conditions, the most important being a safe and secure environment (Mansfeld 1995; Wahab 1996; Vukonic 1997; Hall and O’Sullivan 1996; Richter and Waugh 1986; Sönmez and Graefe 1998; Buckley and Klemm 1993; Edgell 1990; Santana 1999; Teye 1986; Gartner and Shen 1992; Sönmez 1998).
