Description
This paper aims to review the very limited literature on tourist harassment, discusses
determinants and offers some policy suggestions for controlling the problem. Some emphasis is given
to the Caribbean where harassment has been a long-standing issue.
International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research
Tourist harassment: review of the literature and destination responses
J erome L. McElroy Peter Tarlow Karin Carlisle
Article information:
To cite this document:
J erome L. McElroy Peter Tarlow Karin Carlisle, (2007),"Tourist harassment: review of the literature and
destination responses", International J ournal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 1 Iss 4 pp.
305 - 314
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Ibrahim Ajagunna, (2006),"Crime and harassment in J amaica: consequences for sustainability of the
tourism industry", International J ournal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 18 Iss 3 pp. 253-259http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09596110610658652
Antónia Correia, Metin Kozak, J oão Ferradeira, (2013),"From tourist motivations to tourist satisfaction",
International J ournal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 7 Iss 4 pp. 411-424 http://
dx.doi.org/10.1108/IJ CTHR-05-2012-0022
Bishnu Sharma, Pam Dyer, (2009),"Residents' involvement in tourism and their perceptions
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Tourist harassment: review
of the literature and destination
responses
Jerome L. McElroy
Department of Business Administration and Economics,
Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA
Peter Tarlow
Tourism & More, Inc., College Station, Texas, USA, and
Karin Carlisle
Department of Business Administration and Economics,
Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA
Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to review the very limited literature on tourist harassment, discusses
determinants and offers some policy suggestions for controlling the problem. Some emphasis is given
to the Caribbean where harassment has been a long-standing issue.
Design/methodology/approach – In order to gauge the extent and patterns of harassment, an
exhaustive review of the literature is conducted and two recent case studies on Barbados and
Marmaris, Turkey are extensively summarized.
Findings – Results indicate harassment is an increasing problem with global dimensions. Vendor
persistence is the main type, followed by drug peddling and sexual harassment with most incidents
occurring at the beach and/or shopping areas and the least at hotels. Regarding underlying
determinants, the literature emphasizes host-guest socio-economic distances while the case studies
emphasize cultural differences.
Research limitations/implications – Although the research review is limited principally to
third-world destinations, suggested best practice policy directions are useful for mature destinations in
developed countries. They include: involving all tourism stakeholders in addressing the issue,
promoting programs to enhance resident-visitor mutual understanding, improving reporting
mechanisms and systematic tracking of the problem and, in the long run, integrating those at the
margin who comprise most of the harassers into the tourism mainstream.
Originality/value – The paper ?lls a gap in the literature on a growing concern and concludes with
two training exercises to deepen understanding of the issue.
Keywords Tourism, Caribbean, Harassment, National cultures, Gender
Paper type General review
Introduction
In the developing world, the spread of contemporary tourism beyond the traditional
peripheries toward emerging Eastern European, Asian and Paci?c markets and, to a
lesser extent, the Middle East and Africa has thrust worldwide holiday travel across
new and unfamiliar frontiers. These new locales’ tourism dependency and increasing
global competition combined with expanded discount air fares, e-commerce, and
independent booking, increase the importance of customer satisfaction, quality service,
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1750-6182.htm
Tourist
harassment
305
Received February 2007
Revised March 2007
Accepted May 2007
International Journal of Culture,
Tourism and Hospitality Research
Vol. 1 No. 4, 2007
pp. 305-314
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1750-6182
DOI 10.1108/17506180710824190
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and visitor safety. Although terrorism and crime are more serious tourism threats,
harassment is one of the most pervasive and least studied problems affecting
destinations across the globe.
This paper does four things:
(1) examines the nature of harassment and provides a benchmark de?nition;
(2) reviews the extent and types of harassment principally in third world
destinations with some emphasis given to the Caribbean in general and Jamaica
in particular;
(3) presents two case studies where survey research has tracked the contours of
harassment in detail: Barbados and Turkey; and
(4) brie?y discusses causal factors and offers speci?c steps addressed to tourism
destination strategists for preventing or responding to harassment.
The problem
A number of factors explain why academic research lags the rise in tourist harassment,
a global phenomenon. First, since tourist harassment is not considered a crime at most
destinations, this problem is neither tracked statistically nor given priority in
developing government policies. Second, harassment is dif?cult to quantify objectively
because the experience is interpreted subjectively. According to McElroy (2003, p. 179),
“. . . what is good merchandising to the vendor is badgering behavior to the visitor.”
Third, handling complaints is dif?cult since short-staying tourists may not feel the
event is worth the irritation of reporting or, because of anomie, may simply not know
what to do when confronted with harassment. Thus, lacking evidence and information
on the nature, extent and locale of harassment incidents, of?cials cannot easily mount
effective control mechanisms and the problem persists.
One theoretical approach to understand tourism harassment is the passive,
Foucauldian view. This approach suggests visitors are targets of in?uences exercised
by a variety of brokers including: customs/immigration of?cials, travel agents, airline
and hotel employees, street vendors and guides and other destination service
providers. Since, tourists often look conspicuous in their new setting and operate on
unfamiliar political, cultural and sometimes linguistic turf, they are “stripped of many
of their cultural and familiar ties and protective institutions” (Cheong and Miller, 2000,
p. 380). The result is that tourists are vulnerable and insecure. As a consequence, their
freedom is sometimes circumscribed by local customs and behavior. For purposes of
this study, de Albuquerque and McElroy’s (2001, p. 478) de?nition of harassment (from
the viewpoint of the tourist victim) is used: “any annoying behavior taken to the
extreme.” From the viewpoint of the host perpetrator, harassment is simply refusing to
take “no” for an answer.
The globalization of harassment
Although many documented cases of macro or institutional harassment exist
(e.g. government of?cials and border personnel), the focus here is micro or individual
badgering of tourists by persistent local vendors. This problem is prevalent in
traditional European destinations. For example, a major tourism survey in Spain ?nds
more than nine out of ten respondents report:
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. . . there are places (in Spain) that suffer from tourism harassment and 84 percent see this as
having a negative impact on tourism areas. . . [and] this destroys the tourism image and
produces visitor dissatisfaction” (Molina de Aragon, 2007).
Recently, the phenomenon is escalating in high-density developing country resort
areas. For example, the relentless visitor harassment has forced the Moroccan
Government to clamp down on unlicensed tour guides and other hustlers. Excessive
hawking in Bali forced police to segregate vendors on beaches in 1998. Some Kenyan
beaches were so crowded with peddlers and beach boys that local police had to rescue
visitors in 2000. In 2004, Indian tourist police patrols were deployed in key locations
across the capital city of New Delhi to protect foreign visitors against cheating by local
taxi and rickshaw drivers, a practice common at beach resorts in Goa where drivers
often overcharge. Price gouging also is routine at Vietnam’s annual Perfume Pagoda
Festival where aggressive food and souvenir vendors accost tourists and locals alike.
In the past, even fake shrines were constructed to extract cash from visitors.
In developing countries in particular, various forms of sexual harassment
proliferate. Even granting that sexual norms vary across cultures, the harassment of
visitors for sex has long become a permanent feature across the tourism landscape.
For example, Bowman (1996, p. 87) reports on the relentless badgering of female
tourists by Palestinian merchants to enhance their masculinity among their peers and
“to play out scenarios of vengeance against foreigners who, in their eyes, oppressed
them both economically and socially . . . ” In the Northern Marianas in 2001, blatant
street solicitation and the peddling of escort services produced a government
crackdown and tarnished Saipan’s image as a family-friendly destination. In 2000,
Bangkok, Thailand launched a ?eet of women-only buses to reduce crime and
harassment of local women and female visitors. In Barbados and along other selected
Caribbean beaches, daily propositioning of female tourists by beach boys is a
long-term local practice (de Albuquerque, 1999a).
The Caribbean and Jamaica
Nowhere is tourism more economically important than in the insular Caribbean;
nowhere is harassment more of an industry irritant. According to King (2003, p. 168),
four out of ?ve visitors to the Caribbean are concerned about becoming the target of
harassment, de?ned as “being approached by overly aggressive vendors or others
attempting to sell something.” These perceptions are warranted because vendor
harassment is endemic in several traditional destinations. In Puerto Rico, the
archipelago’s second largest destination, harassment has become a serious policy
issue. In Barbados, wardens are dispatched to popular beaches to curb vendor
pestering and to nightclubs to protect female visitors from sexual harassment by beach
boys. Also, this problem is appearing in emerging islands like Cuba and even in
so-called ecotourism destinations like Dominica. With the fastest expanding cruise
traf?c in the region, visitor complaints prompted Dominican authorities to allay
tourists’ fears by criminalizing harassment.
The worst visitor badgering is in Jamaica, where tourism is the leading economic
sector and harassment has a long history. However, the problem has intensi?ed over
the past decade, reaching a ?ash point in 1997. At that time, a number of cruise lines
threatened to drop Jamaica from their itinerary citing persistent passenger harassment.
The government responded by deploying police at the main cruise docks to protect
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passengers from excessive hawking and theft, signi?cantly increasing ?nes for
aggressive peddling, soliciting sex, and other harassing behavior. Also, the
government set up craft villages and provided training in job skills related to
tourism. Despite some temporary improvement, the situation continued to deteriorate
until mid-2001. At that time, three cruise lines stopped visiting Jamaica and headed to
more tourist-friendly ports in Mexico and Puerto Rico. Private sector responses such as
heightened hotel security and the rapid growth of all-inclusive resorts have protected
guests; however, these actions have alienated owners of offsite restaurants, taxis and
vendors by restricting their income opportunities. As a result, the problem continues.
Barbados
The ?rst major tourism survey (n ¼ 9,000) in Barbados was carried out quarterly by
Systems Caribbean Limited (1995) between 1991 and 1994. Survey results show that
nearly 60 percent of respondents experienced some (“a lot” plus “a little”) harassment
(de Albuquerque and McElroy, 2001). British tourists reported the highest incidence
partly due to their long-average stay; Caribbean visitors reported the least, partly due
to their miss-identi?cation as locals by vendors. Young and adventurous tourists
complained of harassment more than the elderly con?ned to their hotels or guided
tours. Repeat visitors and those staying in secluded areas reported less harassment
than ?rst-time visitors and tourists staying close to shopping and nightclub hot spots.
Most harassment occurred at the beach although Caribbean tourists experienced
comparatively more problems in the streets and during shopping. Very few tourists
(10 percent) reported trouble at their hotels, indicating security guards’ effectiveness
keeping vendors and drug peddlers off the premises. Vendor persistence was the
number one problem. Nuisance selling included small souvenirs, clothing, fruit, and
services (e.g. massages and hair-braiding). Four out of ?ve victims reported being
annoyed by vendors without uniforms. Other harassment forms included drug
peddling (27 percent), verbal abuse (14 percent), sexual harassment (8 percent) and
physical abuse (2 percent). The drug hustlers tended to target younger tourists. When
visitors persisted in their refusals, they were sometimes verbally abused. Higher verbal
abuse levels were reported by Caribbean and Other European tourists, the latter likely
the result of vendor frustration at attempts to communicate with non-English speakers.
Most instances of sexual harassment were reported by female tourists, often
European or Canadian women. According to de Albuquerque (1999b), Barbadian beach
boys believe these women are more liberated and af?uent than their American and
British counterparts. Sexual harassment incidents occurred at beaches, where visiting
single women were accosted by various beach boys over several days, and at
nightclubs where they were repeatedly asked to dance. This behavior is dif?cult to
control since many of the perpetrators have legitimate jobs as beach chair attendants
and water sports operators.
In response, local authorities mounted several initiatives: deploying additional
beach wardens and police patrols at hot spots, training police of?cers in harassment
sensitivity, placing vendor booths in designated beach areas, and improving the
organization of taxi queues. Barbados also began to quarterly track harassment
patterns. Between 1996 and 2000, overall levels rose slightly with most complaints
about overzealous vendors. As before, most incidents occurred at the beach, less
frequently in the streets and shopping venues, and least frequently at hotel properties.
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On the other hand, the evidence shows marked increases in the percentages of victims
reporting drug peddling (45 percent) and sexual harassment (16 percent) (CTO, 2001).
These trends suggest that policy measures have not noticeably curtailed the problem.
Turkey
Kozak’s (2007) recent case study of Marmaris, Turkey, considers harassment a service
failure in the context of the consumer satisfaction vein of traditional marketing
literature. This study is small in scope (n ¼ 256) with an exclusive focus on
British tourists visiting during the summer of 2003. Two-thirds were relatively young
(25-44 years), most were middle-class repeat visitors who stayed an average of two
weeks. Results indicate that about one-half reported harassment with vendor
persistence being the most common. Compared to the Barbados study, sexual
harassment was more frequently mentioned and drug peddling was less often cited.
These ?ndings re?ect the strictness of Turkish drug enforcement. Most incidents took
place on the beach and in the streets with the fewest occurring at hotels. In contrast to
their non-bothered counterparts, harassed visitors reported signi?cantly lower levels
of overall holiday satisfaction, less willingness to recommend the destination to others,
and less intention to return.
Also, tourists were queried about their perceptions of harassment motivations. Not
surprisingly, almost four of ?ve concluded that harassment behavior stems from the
desire to maintain livelihoods (e.g. to keep in business/to get more money). Regarding
sexual harassment, some respondents stated that European women tended “to dress
provocatively” and the locals believe these foreign females “have lots of cash.” Finally,
to minimize the problem, the two most common tourist responses were to “allow
tourists to do what they want,” (e.g. resist pressuring them for sales), and to “take legal
action,” (e.g. ?nes and/or prosecution). However, Kozak (2007) notes that regulations
and ?nes already exist, so adequate local law enforcement and responsible vendor
compliance appear to be the main problems.
Determinants and responses
The literature on harassment determinants is limited. Both, de Albuquerque and
McElroy (2001) and Kozak (2007) focus on the speci?c case of visitor-vendor interaction
and identify communication, particularly cross-cultural interactions, as the problem’s
source. For example, informal vendor interviews in Barbados revealed that being
aggressive, hawking one’s product/service loudly, pursuing customers in public spaces
are hallmarks of good salesmanship. Moreover, sellers did not understand why tourists
could not afford to purchase “a little something,” and would not engage them in polite
conversation. On the other hand, people from North America and Europe typically do
not respond to greetings or approaches by strangers in public places. Similarly, Kozak
(2007, p. 394) sees cultural differences behind the con?icts observed between hawking
Turkish shopkeepers and by-passing and/or browsing tourists:
While local shopkeepers see inviting tourists into their shops to buy something as a way to
encourage business or help their customers, tourists from the West perceive this as being
harassed, because in their culture the customer is expected to make the ?rst move.
Despite these polarizing cultural distances and frequent commercial
misunderstandings, harassment can damage vacation quality, reduce the propensity
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to return, and even tarnish the destination’s image and economic future. Harassment
cannot be stopped completely because no solution ?ts all circumstances. Fortunately, a
number of steps can be undertaken to minimize the problem. First, a standing committee
of all major tourism stakeholders must be created. This committee should meet
quarterly to review harassment issues and to plan contingent responses before matters
become acute. Second, establish special Tourism-Oriented Policy/Protection Units
(TOPs). TOPs need to be deployed inareas of high-tourismconcentration(Tarlow, 2005).
Third, resources should be devoted to conscious-raising seminars/lectures open to hotel
and restaurant employees as well as to vendors and other service providers. The
seminar/lecture focus is two-fold: to emphasize the cost of harassment to all tourism
workers, and to make sure that employees understand, in cases of unwanted sexual
overtures, the penalty could involve being ?red. Fourth, for the community at large a
positive anti-harassment public relations campaign should be mounted stressing
citizens’ responsibility to protect visitors and make them feel welcome.
Fifth, to improve the comfort level of the visitor, a short in-house video should be
developed for showing on airlines and cruise ships to highlight the cultural differences
of the destination so that tourists know what to expect. Sixth, a series of harassment
report centers should be created to which guests can report complaints. Seventh, clear
signage is needed to help tourists at airports, popular attractions, and other public
transportation (e.g. cab fares). To support this effort, brochures should be made
available, particularly at rental car agencies and hotels to identify the “best hassle-free
route/location maps.” Eighth, lighting intensity improvements at high-tourism
zones/attractions should be considered since increased exposure both enhances the
comfort level of the visitor as well as the risk to the harasser.
Ninth, governments need to carefully track harassment patterns so that the problem
can be treated as a serious policy issue. Such information will provide the standing
committee and all tourism stakeholders with a more accurate and in-depth
understanding of the contours and intensity of the problem. Finally, however
effective these short-term strategies are, in the long-run decision-makers must make a
concerted and continuing effort to accomplish the dif?cult task of integrating those at
the economic margin, who comprise the majority of harassers, into the tourism
mainstream.
Executive exercises
In order to come to grips with the “on the ground” reality of harassment, two executive
exercises are presented, one conventional shopping example and another incident at
the airport. They are included to deepen understanding of the phenomenon, to re?ect
on the variety of potential responses, and to guide the research and thinking process
toward developing effective solutions.
Exercise 1
Many tourists complain about cultural harassment in the market place. The problem
stems from differing standards for social norms. For example, Western tourists
accustomed to set prices may be uncomfortable haggling over prices with local
vendors. On the other hand, visitors accustomed to merchants enticing customers to
enter their stores may be surprised when shop keepers passively wait inside for
customers to ask for assistance.
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Consider a Western tourist is visiting a bazaar where each store sells a similar
variety of merchandise. In this country, store owners believe their income is based on
individual ability to entice visitors to enter the shop rather than the merchandise’s
quality. To address the potential con?ict, begin by mapping the following questions:
.
Begin to trace the harassment issue from both the visitor’s and the shop owner’s
perspective;
.
How many times may a visitor be asked to enter a store until an invitation
becomes harassment?
.
How often do visitors actually complain to police?
After returning home, some visitors report in travel blogs and newsletters the areas
and streets that should be avoided by future travelers. The visitors were so
uncomfortable visiting these areas that they feel compelled to warn other travelers.
This harassment may be harming the locale’s overall image. How would you develop
an anti-harassment task force? What internal creative marketing ideas would you
develop?
.
ignore the problem and call it cultural;
.
send in undercover agents and humiliate the street merchants to force them to
stop harassment;
.
show merchants that harassment does not pay and is economically
counter-productive; and
.
train female police of?cers to use a two-pronged approach: one, education of
merchants that such behavior is no longer acceptable; and two, if the behavior
persists, with permission from the destination’s legal authorities, both ?ne and if
necessary arrest street merchants who perform such actions.
Exercise 2
During a busy holiday, a group of religious missionaries converge on an airport to save
lost souls. Despite the airport’s announcements that travelers do not have to pay
attention to the religious solicitations, avoiding contact is dif?cult. The missionaries
go after travelers waiting in line to board a plane or rushing from gate to gate. When
asked to stop such proselytizing, the missionaries argue that they are in a public place
and that their actions are exercises of their freedom of speech and religion. Also, the
missionaries state that their religious beliefs demand that they share their faith with
others and do everything possible to prevent non-believers from going to hell. Other
employees overhear the “conversation,” but they do not interfere because they fear the
proselytizers will sue them for depriving them of their constitutional rights.
.
Is there such a thing as religious harassment?
.
At what point do the airport employees step into protect the passenger’s right of
privacy?
.
Should this form of religious expression be protected or challenged on an
international basis or on a country-by-country basis?
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There are a variety of ways to address harassment situations. This sampling of
answers provides some suggestion for thinking through the issues and coming up with
a reasonable understanding and/or response.
Exercise 1
.
Begin to trace the harassment issue from both the visitor’s and the shop owner’s
perspective.
To accomplish this goal the researcher will need to employ a series of
observational techniques. First, look at the Weberian symbolic interaction. List
each action viewed from both the shopkeeper’s perspective and from the
perspective of the visitor. Then observe body language. Finally, note how many
visitors enter the store and compare these traf?c patterns with those in, say, the
downtown section of town where this practice is not used. Make sure to
standardize store visitation per X amount of potential customers in order to get a
fair statistical reading.
.
How many times may a visitor be asked to enter a store until an invitation
becomes harassment?
To begin to solve this research problem, the investigator will need to do a series
of face-to-face encounters with visitors to the shops. Some form of focus group
may be used. Be careful to distinguish between Western cultures and other
demographics such as gender and age. Finally, keenly observe the body
language being used along with tone of voice and compare those ?ndings to the
verbal information given. Often, people’s body language and words do not
match. Thus, the researcher may have to discern where a person is being polite
rather than openly showing annoyance.
.
How often do visitors actually complain to police?
First, go to the police department and ask for any public records that may be
available. Make sure to bring identi?cation and a letter from some of?cial asking
the police to cooperate with you. Make sure the letter is written in the local
language and carries an of?cial seal. Assuming police records are kept and
available (if not, this negative ?nding is also a ?nding), then begin to look at
actions per a standardized number of visitors, some form of a 1 in K format. The
researcher should go to the market place and carefully observe the number of
harassment issues he/she sees. Be sure to have a pre-set de?nition of harassment
so that the researcher’s own bias does not color the statistical ?ndings. Begin by
examining the observed number of harassment incidents and compare these to
what the police reports state.
Armed with solid and more accurate information on the intensity, location and patterns
of harassment, the researcher can now more seriously evaluate policy responses.
Clearly, ignoring the problem under the guise of cultural diversity is no response.
Business as usual is a recipe for continual harassment and potential destination
damage. Likewise, sending in undercover agents to humiliate merchants into
submission is also counterproductive since any effective long-run solution must
involve the cooperation and buy-in of all tourism stakeholders.
A more reasonable approach would be to creatively combine suggestions Three and
Four. First consider translating the critical visitor blogs into the local languages.
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Then remember that nothing talks as loudly as money so a plan will be needed to show
merchants that harassment is counter-productive to their bottom line. Experts from
abroad do not have the social capital or clout to accomplish such a goal. Instead, the
researcher will have to use some form of a reputation methodology to learn who among
the harassers carries the most respect and clout. This person must then convince the
locals that such actions are counter-productive. Second, female police of?cers may also
be sent into the area for monitoring and used as decoys (much as police use female
of?cers in other forms of crime prevention and interdiction) to identify, warn and, if
necessary, use legal means where permissible (?nes, arrests) to deter those causing the
problem.
Exercise 2
.
Is there such a thing as religious harassment?
To a great extent, the answer to this question depends on local laws or
interpretation of laws. In some nations, the majority religion is allowed to
proselytize to the extreme, in other nations any form of “religious noise pollution”
would be considered harassment. To a great extent, the answer to this question is
in the mouth of the speaker, the eyes of the law and the ears of the listener. Using
our de?nition of harassment (on the part of the perpetrator) as the repeated
refusal to accept “no” for an answer, if the missionary is targeting a particular
person who does not wish to listen, then that would be considered harassment. If
on the other hand, it is merely a speech not directed toward any one individual,
that communication may be annoyance but not harassment.
.
At what point do the airport employees step into protect the passenger’s right of
privacy?
The employee’s response may be based on the principle of harassment. If
passengers are asking to be allowed to be alone, then this may be an issue of
harassment. Needless to say, how much freedom of speech is permitted depends
on a nation’s laws and local custom. In the USA, not every action is protected
under freedom of religion (one cannot use hard drugs as a religious exercise), and
the harassment may fall under noise pollution laws. Employees should enter into
this issue only after passengers have complained.
.
Should this form of religious expression be protected or challenged on an
international basis or on a country-by-country basis?
There is almost zero possibility that there will be an international agreement on
such an issue. Religious differences are simply too great. Instead this form of
religious protection or expression will have to be based on a nation-by-nation
status.
In conclusion, these are only two of the many harassment situations tourism managers
and practitioners face daily across the global landscape. Although these exercises are
con?ned to vendor persistence and religious proselytizing and omit the myriad other
types (e.g. drug peddling, verbal and physical abuse, or sexual harassment), they
illustrate several important dimensions surrounding the problem. First, harassment is
a complex phenomenon that arises in the milieu of interpersonal interaction embedded
with sometimes sharp host-guest socio-economic and cultural differences. Second,
although the problem cannot be stopped absolutely, thinking through and attempting
Tourist
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to reconcile the motivations and requirements of all major stakeholders is the preferred
way forward to achieve consensus and durable solutions. Third, successful strategies
will place a priority on strengthening community awareness of the unique contribution
tourism makes to the destination’s economic life. They will also foster enhanced
host-guest intercultural understanding. Finally, controlling harassment likely will
remain an ongoing issue until the structure of the tourism industry develops more
effective ways to integrate those at the margin into the mainstream since these
visitor-resident economic distances, in part, are both underlying determinants and
visible expressions of the problem.
References
Bowman, G. (1996), “Passion, power and politics in a Palestinian tourist market”, in Selwyn, T.
(Ed.), The Tourist Image: Myths and Myth Making in Tourism, Wiley, Chichester,
pp. 83-103.
Caribbean Tourism Organization (2001), Barbados Stayover Visitor Survey, 1996, 1999, 2000,
CTO, Christ Church.
Cheong, S. and Miller, M.L. (2000), “Power and tourism: a Foucauldian observation”, Annals of
Tourism Research, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 371-90.
de Albuquerque, K. (1999a), “Sex, beach boys, and female tourists in the Caribbean”, Sexuality
and Culture, Vol. 2, pp. 87-111.
de Albuquerque, K. (1999b), “In search of the big bamboo”, Transitions, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 48-57.
de Albuquerque, K. and McElroy, J. (2001), “Tourist harassment: Barbados survey results”,
Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 477-92.
King, J. (2003), “The perceptions of crime and safety among tourists visiting the Caribbean”, in
Harriott, A. (Ed.), Understanding Crime in Jamaica, University of West Indies Press,
Kingston, pp. 157-75.
Kozak, M. (2007), “Tourist harassment: a marketing perspective”, Annals of Tourism Research,
Vol. 34 No. 2, pp. 384-99.
McElroy, J. (2003), “Tourist harassment: review and survey results”, in Harriott, A. (Ed.),
Understanding Crime in Jamaica: New Challenges for Public Policy, University of West
Indies Press, Kingston, pp. 177-95.
Molina de Aragon (2007), “Geography, history, tourism resources”, available at:http://html.
rincondelvago.com/molina-de-aragon.html (accessed 17 January).
Systems Caribbean Limited (1995), Barbados Visitor Satisfaction Surveys, 1991-1994, SCL,
St Michael.
Tarlow, P. (2005), “The impact of community policing on tourism and tourism oriented
policy/protection services (TOPs)”, E-review of Tourism Research (ERTR), Vol. 3 No. 1,
available at:http://ertr.tamu.edu (accessed 29 January, 2007).
Corresponding author
Jerome L. McElroy can be contacted at: [email protected]
IJCTHR
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doc_439026487.pdf
This paper aims to review the very limited literature on tourist harassment, discusses
determinants and offers some policy suggestions for controlling the problem. Some emphasis is given
to the Caribbean where harassment has been a long-standing issue.
International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research
Tourist harassment: review of the literature and destination responses
J erome L. McElroy Peter Tarlow Karin Carlisle
Article information:
To cite this document:
J erome L. McElroy Peter Tarlow Karin Carlisle, (2007),"Tourist harassment: review of the literature and
destination responses", International J ournal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 1 Iss 4 pp.
305 - 314
Permanent link to this document:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17506180710824190
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Antónia Correia, Metin Kozak, J oão Ferradeira, (2013),"From tourist motivations to tourist satisfaction",
International J ournal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 7 Iss 4 pp. 411-424 http://
dx.doi.org/10.1108/IJ CTHR-05-2012-0022
Bishnu Sharma, Pam Dyer, (2009),"Residents' involvement in tourism and their perceptions
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Tourist harassment: review
of the literature and destination
responses
Jerome L. McElroy
Department of Business Administration and Economics,
Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA
Peter Tarlow
Tourism & More, Inc., College Station, Texas, USA, and
Karin Carlisle
Department of Business Administration and Economics,
Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA
Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to review the very limited literature on tourist harassment, discusses
determinants and offers some policy suggestions for controlling the problem. Some emphasis is given
to the Caribbean where harassment has been a long-standing issue.
Design/methodology/approach – In order to gauge the extent and patterns of harassment, an
exhaustive review of the literature is conducted and two recent case studies on Barbados and
Marmaris, Turkey are extensively summarized.
Findings – Results indicate harassment is an increasing problem with global dimensions. Vendor
persistence is the main type, followed by drug peddling and sexual harassment with most incidents
occurring at the beach and/or shopping areas and the least at hotels. Regarding underlying
determinants, the literature emphasizes host-guest socio-economic distances while the case studies
emphasize cultural differences.
Research limitations/implications – Although the research review is limited principally to
third-world destinations, suggested best practice policy directions are useful for mature destinations in
developed countries. They include: involving all tourism stakeholders in addressing the issue,
promoting programs to enhance resident-visitor mutual understanding, improving reporting
mechanisms and systematic tracking of the problem and, in the long run, integrating those at the
margin who comprise most of the harassers into the tourism mainstream.
Originality/value – The paper ?lls a gap in the literature on a growing concern and concludes with
two training exercises to deepen understanding of the issue.
Keywords Tourism, Caribbean, Harassment, National cultures, Gender
Paper type General review
Introduction
In the developing world, the spread of contemporary tourism beyond the traditional
peripheries toward emerging Eastern European, Asian and Paci?c markets and, to a
lesser extent, the Middle East and Africa has thrust worldwide holiday travel across
new and unfamiliar frontiers. These new locales’ tourism dependency and increasing
global competition combined with expanded discount air fares, e-commerce, and
independent booking, increase the importance of customer satisfaction, quality service,
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1750-6182.htm
Tourist
harassment
305
Received February 2007
Revised March 2007
Accepted May 2007
International Journal of Culture,
Tourism and Hospitality Research
Vol. 1 No. 4, 2007
pp. 305-314
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1750-6182
DOI 10.1108/17506180710824190
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and visitor safety. Although terrorism and crime are more serious tourism threats,
harassment is one of the most pervasive and least studied problems affecting
destinations across the globe.
This paper does four things:
(1) examines the nature of harassment and provides a benchmark de?nition;
(2) reviews the extent and types of harassment principally in third world
destinations with some emphasis given to the Caribbean in general and Jamaica
in particular;
(3) presents two case studies where survey research has tracked the contours of
harassment in detail: Barbados and Turkey; and
(4) brie?y discusses causal factors and offers speci?c steps addressed to tourism
destination strategists for preventing or responding to harassment.
The problem
A number of factors explain why academic research lags the rise in tourist harassment,
a global phenomenon. First, since tourist harassment is not considered a crime at most
destinations, this problem is neither tracked statistically nor given priority in
developing government policies. Second, harassment is dif?cult to quantify objectively
because the experience is interpreted subjectively. According to McElroy (2003, p. 179),
“. . . what is good merchandising to the vendor is badgering behavior to the visitor.”
Third, handling complaints is dif?cult since short-staying tourists may not feel the
event is worth the irritation of reporting or, because of anomie, may simply not know
what to do when confronted with harassment. Thus, lacking evidence and information
on the nature, extent and locale of harassment incidents, of?cials cannot easily mount
effective control mechanisms and the problem persists.
One theoretical approach to understand tourism harassment is the passive,
Foucauldian view. This approach suggests visitors are targets of in?uences exercised
by a variety of brokers including: customs/immigration of?cials, travel agents, airline
and hotel employees, street vendors and guides and other destination service
providers. Since, tourists often look conspicuous in their new setting and operate on
unfamiliar political, cultural and sometimes linguistic turf, they are “stripped of many
of their cultural and familiar ties and protective institutions” (Cheong and Miller, 2000,
p. 380). The result is that tourists are vulnerable and insecure. As a consequence, their
freedom is sometimes circumscribed by local customs and behavior. For purposes of
this study, de Albuquerque and McElroy’s (2001, p. 478) de?nition of harassment (from
the viewpoint of the tourist victim) is used: “any annoying behavior taken to the
extreme.” From the viewpoint of the host perpetrator, harassment is simply refusing to
take “no” for an answer.
The globalization of harassment
Although many documented cases of macro or institutional harassment exist
(e.g. government of?cials and border personnel), the focus here is micro or individual
badgering of tourists by persistent local vendors. This problem is prevalent in
traditional European destinations. For example, a major tourism survey in Spain ?nds
more than nine out of ten respondents report:
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. . . there are places (in Spain) that suffer from tourism harassment and 84 percent see this as
having a negative impact on tourism areas. . . [and] this destroys the tourism image and
produces visitor dissatisfaction” (Molina de Aragon, 2007).
Recently, the phenomenon is escalating in high-density developing country resort
areas. For example, the relentless visitor harassment has forced the Moroccan
Government to clamp down on unlicensed tour guides and other hustlers. Excessive
hawking in Bali forced police to segregate vendors on beaches in 1998. Some Kenyan
beaches were so crowded with peddlers and beach boys that local police had to rescue
visitors in 2000. In 2004, Indian tourist police patrols were deployed in key locations
across the capital city of New Delhi to protect foreign visitors against cheating by local
taxi and rickshaw drivers, a practice common at beach resorts in Goa where drivers
often overcharge. Price gouging also is routine at Vietnam’s annual Perfume Pagoda
Festival where aggressive food and souvenir vendors accost tourists and locals alike.
In the past, even fake shrines were constructed to extract cash from visitors.
In developing countries in particular, various forms of sexual harassment
proliferate. Even granting that sexual norms vary across cultures, the harassment of
visitors for sex has long become a permanent feature across the tourism landscape.
For example, Bowman (1996, p. 87) reports on the relentless badgering of female
tourists by Palestinian merchants to enhance their masculinity among their peers and
“to play out scenarios of vengeance against foreigners who, in their eyes, oppressed
them both economically and socially . . . ” In the Northern Marianas in 2001, blatant
street solicitation and the peddling of escort services produced a government
crackdown and tarnished Saipan’s image as a family-friendly destination. In 2000,
Bangkok, Thailand launched a ?eet of women-only buses to reduce crime and
harassment of local women and female visitors. In Barbados and along other selected
Caribbean beaches, daily propositioning of female tourists by beach boys is a
long-term local practice (de Albuquerque, 1999a).
The Caribbean and Jamaica
Nowhere is tourism more economically important than in the insular Caribbean;
nowhere is harassment more of an industry irritant. According to King (2003, p. 168),
four out of ?ve visitors to the Caribbean are concerned about becoming the target of
harassment, de?ned as “being approached by overly aggressive vendors or others
attempting to sell something.” These perceptions are warranted because vendor
harassment is endemic in several traditional destinations. In Puerto Rico, the
archipelago’s second largest destination, harassment has become a serious policy
issue. In Barbados, wardens are dispatched to popular beaches to curb vendor
pestering and to nightclubs to protect female visitors from sexual harassment by beach
boys. Also, this problem is appearing in emerging islands like Cuba and even in
so-called ecotourism destinations like Dominica. With the fastest expanding cruise
traf?c in the region, visitor complaints prompted Dominican authorities to allay
tourists’ fears by criminalizing harassment.
The worst visitor badgering is in Jamaica, where tourism is the leading economic
sector and harassment has a long history. However, the problem has intensi?ed over
the past decade, reaching a ?ash point in 1997. At that time, a number of cruise lines
threatened to drop Jamaica from their itinerary citing persistent passenger harassment.
The government responded by deploying police at the main cruise docks to protect
Tourist
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passengers from excessive hawking and theft, signi?cantly increasing ?nes for
aggressive peddling, soliciting sex, and other harassing behavior. Also, the
government set up craft villages and provided training in job skills related to
tourism. Despite some temporary improvement, the situation continued to deteriorate
until mid-2001. At that time, three cruise lines stopped visiting Jamaica and headed to
more tourist-friendly ports in Mexico and Puerto Rico. Private sector responses such as
heightened hotel security and the rapid growth of all-inclusive resorts have protected
guests; however, these actions have alienated owners of offsite restaurants, taxis and
vendors by restricting their income opportunities. As a result, the problem continues.
Barbados
The ?rst major tourism survey (n ¼ 9,000) in Barbados was carried out quarterly by
Systems Caribbean Limited (1995) between 1991 and 1994. Survey results show that
nearly 60 percent of respondents experienced some (“a lot” plus “a little”) harassment
(de Albuquerque and McElroy, 2001). British tourists reported the highest incidence
partly due to their long-average stay; Caribbean visitors reported the least, partly due
to their miss-identi?cation as locals by vendors. Young and adventurous tourists
complained of harassment more than the elderly con?ned to their hotels or guided
tours. Repeat visitors and those staying in secluded areas reported less harassment
than ?rst-time visitors and tourists staying close to shopping and nightclub hot spots.
Most harassment occurred at the beach although Caribbean tourists experienced
comparatively more problems in the streets and during shopping. Very few tourists
(10 percent) reported trouble at their hotels, indicating security guards’ effectiveness
keeping vendors and drug peddlers off the premises. Vendor persistence was the
number one problem. Nuisance selling included small souvenirs, clothing, fruit, and
services (e.g. massages and hair-braiding). Four out of ?ve victims reported being
annoyed by vendors without uniforms. Other harassment forms included drug
peddling (27 percent), verbal abuse (14 percent), sexual harassment (8 percent) and
physical abuse (2 percent). The drug hustlers tended to target younger tourists. When
visitors persisted in their refusals, they were sometimes verbally abused. Higher verbal
abuse levels were reported by Caribbean and Other European tourists, the latter likely
the result of vendor frustration at attempts to communicate with non-English speakers.
Most instances of sexual harassment were reported by female tourists, often
European or Canadian women. According to de Albuquerque (1999b), Barbadian beach
boys believe these women are more liberated and af?uent than their American and
British counterparts. Sexual harassment incidents occurred at beaches, where visiting
single women were accosted by various beach boys over several days, and at
nightclubs where they were repeatedly asked to dance. This behavior is dif?cult to
control since many of the perpetrators have legitimate jobs as beach chair attendants
and water sports operators.
In response, local authorities mounted several initiatives: deploying additional
beach wardens and police patrols at hot spots, training police of?cers in harassment
sensitivity, placing vendor booths in designated beach areas, and improving the
organization of taxi queues. Barbados also began to quarterly track harassment
patterns. Between 1996 and 2000, overall levels rose slightly with most complaints
about overzealous vendors. As before, most incidents occurred at the beach, less
frequently in the streets and shopping venues, and least frequently at hotel properties.
IJCTHR
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On the other hand, the evidence shows marked increases in the percentages of victims
reporting drug peddling (45 percent) and sexual harassment (16 percent) (CTO, 2001).
These trends suggest that policy measures have not noticeably curtailed the problem.
Turkey
Kozak’s (2007) recent case study of Marmaris, Turkey, considers harassment a service
failure in the context of the consumer satisfaction vein of traditional marketing
literature. This study is small in scope (n ¼ 256) with an exclusive focus on
British tourists visiting during the summer of 2003. Two-thirds were relatively young
(25-44 years), most were middle-class repeat visitors who stayed an average of two
weeks. Results indicate that about one-half reported harassment with vendor
persistence being the most common. Compared to the Barbados study, sexual
harassment was more frequently mentioned and drug peddling was less often cited.
These ?ndings re?ect the strictness of Turkish drug enforcement. Most incidents took
place on the beach and in the streets with the fewest occurring at hotels. In contrast to
their non-bothered counterparts, harassed visitors reported signi?cantly lower levels
of overall holiday satisfaction, less willingness to recommend the destination to others,
and less intention to return.
Also, tourists were queried about their perceptions of harassment motivations. Not
surprisingly, almost four of ?ve concluded that harassment behavior stems from the
desire to maintain livelihoods (e.g. to keep in business/to get more money). Regarding
sexual harassment, some respondents stated that European women tended “to dress
provocatively” and the locals believe these foreign females “have lots of cash.” Finally,
to minimize the problem, the two most common tourist responses were to “allow
tourists to do what they want,” (e.g. resist pressuring them for sales), and to “take legal
action,” (e.g. ?nes and/or prosecution). However, Kozak (2007) notes that regulations
and ?nes already exist, so adequate local law enforcement and responsible vendor
compliance appear to be the main problems.
Determinants and responses
The literature on harassment determinants is limited. Both, de Albuquerque and
McElroy (2001) and Kozak (2007) focus on the speci?c case of visitor-vendor interaction
and identify communication, particularly cross-cultural interactions, as the problem’s
source. For example, informal vendor interviews in Barbados revealed that being
aggressive, hawking one’s product/service loudly, pursuing customers in public spaces
are hallmarks of good salesmanship. Moreover, sellers did not understand why tourists
could not afford to purchase “a little something,” and would not engage them in polite
conversation. On the other hand, people from North America and Europe typically do
not respond to greetings or approaches by strangers in public places. Similarly, Kozak
(2007, p. 394) sees cultural differences behind the con?icts observed between hawking
Turkish shopkeepers and by-passing and/or browsing tourists:
While local shopkeepers see inviting tourists into their shops to buy something as a way to
encourage business or help their customers, tourists from the West perceive this as being
harassed, because in their culture the customer is expected to make the ?rst move.
Despite these polarizing cultural distances and frequent commercial
misunderstandings, harassment can damage vacation quality, reduce the propensity
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to return, and even tarnish the destination’s image and economic future. Harassment
cannot be stopped completely because no solution ?ts all circumstances. Fortunately, a
number of steps can be undertaken to minimize the problem. First, a standing committee
of all major tourism stakeholders must be created. This committee should meet
quarterly to review harassment issues and to plan contingent responses before matters
become acute. Second, establish special Tourism-Oriented Policy/Protection Units
(TOPs). TOPs need to be deployed inareas of high-tourismconcentration(Tarlow, 2005).
Third, resources should be devoted to conscious-raising seminars/lectures open to hotel
and restaurant employees as well as to vendors and other service providers. The
seminar/lecture focus is two-fold: to emphasize the cost of harassment to all tourism
workers, and to make sure that employees understand, in cases of unwanted sexual
overtures, the penalty could involve being ?red. Fourth, for the community at large a
positive anti-harassment public relations campaign should be mounted stressing
citizens’ responsibility to protect visitors and make them feel welcome.
Fifth, to improve the comfort level of the visitor, a short in-house video should be
developed for showing on airlines and cruise ships to highlight the cultural differences
of the destination so that tourists know what to expect. Sixth, a series of harassment
report centers should be created to which guests can report complaints. Seventh, clear
signage is needed to help tourists at airports, popular attractions, and other public
transportation (e.g. cab fares). To support this effort, brochures should be made
available, particularly at rental car agencies and hotels to identify the “best hassle-free
route/location maps.” Eighth, lighting intensity improvements at high-tourism
zones/attractions should be considered since increased exposure both enhances the
comfort level of the visitor as well as the risk to the harasser.
Ninth, governments need to carefully track harassment patterns so that the problem
can be treated as a serious policy issue. Such information will provide the standing
committee and all tourism stakeholders with a more accurate and in-depth
understanding of the contours and intensity of the problem. Finally, however
effective these short-term strategies are, in the long-run decision-makers must make a
concerted and continuing effort to accomplish the dif?cult task of integrating those at
the economic margin, who comprise the majority of harassers, into the tourism
mainstream.
Executive exercises
In order to come to grips with the “on the ground” reality of harassment, two executive
exercises are presented, one conventional shopping example and another incident at
the airport. They are included to deepen understanding of the phenomenon, to re?ect
on the variety of potential responses, and to guide the research and thinking process
toward developing effective solutions.
Exercise 1
Many tourists complain about cultural harassment in the market place. The problem
stems from differing standards for social norms. For example, Western tourists
accustomed to set prices may be uncomfortable haggling over prices with local
vendors. On the other hand, visitors accustomed to merchants enticing customers to
enter their stores may be surprised when shop keepers passively wait inside for
customers to ask for assistance.
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Consider a Western tourist is visiting a bazaar where each store sells a similar
variety of merchandise. In this country, store owners believe their income is based on
individual ability to entice visitors to enter the shop rather than the merchandise’s
quality. To address the potential con?ict, begin by mapping the following questions:
.
Begin to trace the harassment issue from both the visitor’s and the shop owner’s
perspective;
.
How many times may a visitor be asked to enter a store until an invitation
becomes harassment?
.
How often do visitors actually complain to police?
After returning home, some visitors report in travel blogs and newsletters the areas
and streets that should be avoided by future travelers. The visitors were so
uncomfortable visiting these areas that they feel compelled to warn other travelers.
This harassment may be harming the locale’s overall image. How would you develop
an anti-harassment task force? What internal creative marketing ideas would you
develop?
.
ignore the problem and call it cultural;
.
send in undercover agents and humiliate the street merchants to force them to
stop harassment;
.
show merchants that harassment does not pay and is economically
counter-productive; and
.
train female police of?cers to use a two-pronged approach: one, education of
merchants that such behavior is no longer acceptable; and two, if the behavior
persists, with permission from the destination’s legal authorities, both ?ne and if
necessary arrest street merchants who perform such actions.
Exercise 2
During a busy holiday, a group of religious missionaries converge on an airport to save
lost souls. Despite the airport’s announcements that travelers do not have to pay
attention to the religious solicitations, avoiding contact is dif?cult. The missionaries
go after travelers waiting in line to board a plane or rushing from gate to gate. When
asked to stop such proselytizing, the missionaries argue that they are in a public place
and that their actions are exercises of their freedom of speech and religion. Also, the
missionaries state that their religious beliefs demand that they share their faith with
others and do everything possible to prevent non-believers from going to hell. Other
employees overhear the “conversation,” but they do not interfere because they fear the
proselytizers will sue them for depriving them of their constitutional rights.
.
Is there such a thing as religious harassment?
.
At what point do the airport employees step into protect the passenger’s right of
privacy?
.
Should this form of religious expression be protected or challenged on an
international basis or on a country-by-country basis?
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There are a variety of ways to address harassment situations. This sampling of
answers provides some suggestion for thinking through the issues and coming up with
a reasonable understanding and/or response.
Exercise 1
.
Begin to trace the harassment issue from both the visitor’s and the shop owner’s
perspective.
To accomplish this goal the researcher will need to employ a series of
observational techniques. First, look at the Weberian symbolic interaction. List
each action viewed from both the shopkeeper’s perspective and from the
perspective of the visitor. Then observe body language. Finally, note how many
visitors enter the store and compare these traf?c patterns with those in, say, the
downtown section of town where this practice is not used. Make sure to
standardize store visitation per X amount of potential customers in order to get a
fair statistical reading.
.
How many times may a visitor be asked to enter a store until an invitation
becomes harassment?
To begin to solve this research problem, the investigator will need to do a series
of face-to-face encounters with visitors to the shops. Some form of focus group
may be used. Be careful to distinguish between Western cultures and other
demographics such as gender and age. Finally, keenly observe the body
language being used along with tone of voice and compare those ?ndings to the
verbal information given. Often, people’s body language and words do not
match. Thus, the researcher may have to discern where a person is being polite
rather than openly showing annoyance.
.
How often do visitors actually complain to police?
First, go to the police department and ask for any public records that may be
available. Make sure to bring identi?cation and a letter from some of?cial asking
the police to cooperate with you. Make sure the letter is written in the local
language and carries an of?cial seal. Assuming police records are kept and
available (if not, this negative ?nding is also a ?nding), then begin to look at
actions per a standardized number of visitors, some form of a 1 in K format. The
researcher should go to the market place and carefully observe the number of
harassment issues he/she sees. Be sure to have a pre-set de?nition of harassment
so that the researcher’s own bias does not color the statistical ?ndings. Begin by
examining the observed number of harassment incidents and compare these to
what the police reports state.
Armed with solid and more accurate information on the intensity, location and patterns
of harassment, the researcher can now more seriously evaluate policy responses.
Clearly, ignoring the problem under the guise of cultural diversity is no response.
Business as usual is a recipe for continual harassment and potential destination
damage. Likewise, sending in undercover agents to humiliate merchants into
submission is also counterproductive since any effective long-run solution must
involve the cooperation and buy-in of all tourism stakeholders.
A more reasonable approach would be to creatively combine suggestions Three and
Four. First consider translating the critical visitor blogs into the local languages.
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Then remember that nothing talks as loudly as money so a plan will be needed to show
merchants that harassment is counter-productive to their bottom line. Experts from
abroad do not have the social capital or clout to accomplish such a goal. Instead, the
researcher will have to use some form of a reputation methodology to learn who among
the harassers carries the most respect and clout. This person must then convince the
locals that such actions are counter-productive. Second, female police of?cers may also
be sent into the area for monitoring and used as decoys (much as police use female
of?cers in other forms of crime prevention and interdiction) to identify, warn and, if
necessary, use legal means where permissible (?nes, arrests) to deter those causing the
problem.
Exercise 2
.
Is there such a thing as religious harassment?
To a great extent, the answer to this question depends on local laws or
interpretation of laws. In some nations, the majority religion is allowed to
proselytize to the extreme, in other nations any form of “religious noise pollution”
would be considered harassment. To a great extent, the answer to this question is
in the mouth of the speaker, the eyes of the law and the ears of the listener. Using
our de?nition of harassment (on the part of the perpetrator) as the repeated
refusal to accept “no” for an answer, if the missionary is targeting a particular
person who does not wish to listen, then that would be considered harassment. If
on the other hand, it is merely a speech not directed toward any one individual,
that communication may be annoyance but not harassment.
.
At what point do the airport employees step into protect the passenger’s right of
privacy?
The employee’s response may be based on the principle of harassment. If
passengers are asking to be allowed to be alone, then this may be an issue of
harassment. Needless to say, how much freedom of speech is permitted depends
on a nation’s laws and local custom. In the USA, not every action is protected
under freedom of religion (one cannot use hard drugs as a religious exercise), and
the harassment may fall under noise pollution laws. Employees should enter into
this issue only after passengers have complained.
.
Should this form of religious expression be protected or challenged on an
international basis or on a country-by-country basis?
There is almost zero possibility that there will be an international agreement on
such an issue. Religious differences are simply too great. Instead this form of
religious protection or expression will have to be based on a nation-by-nation
status.
In conclusion, these are only two of the many harassment situations tourism managers
and practitioners face daily across the global landscape. Although these exercises are
con?ned to vendor persistence and religious proselytizing and omit the myriad other
types (e.g. drug peddling, verbal and physical abuse, or sexual harassment), they
illustrate several important dimensions surrounding the problem. First, harassment is
a complex phenomenon that arises in the milieu of interpersonal interaction embedded
with sometimes sharp host-guest socio-economic and cultural differences. Second,
although the problem cannot be stopped absolutely, thinking through and attempting
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to reconcile the motivations and requirements of all major stakeholders is the preferred
way forward to achieve consensus and durable solutions. Third, successful strategies
will place a priority on strengthening community awareness of the unique contribution
tourism makes to the destination’s economic life. They will also foster enhanced
host-guest intercultural understanding. Finally, controlling harassment likely will
remain an ongoing issue until the structure of the tourism industry develops more
effective ways to integrate those at the margin into the mainstream since these
visitor-resident economic distances, in part, are both underlying determinants and
visible expressions of the problem.
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Corresponding author
Jerome L. McElroy can be contacted at: [email protected]
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