Beyond any kind of economic activity, a failure or success that characterizes a given tourism destination shall greatly hinge upon the ability of such a destination to provide to its visitors an environment that is both secure and safe. Seeing that tourism is an industry with a global reach, and is situated in a sector that is under intense competition, there is a need to explore the various factors that could impact on it. In this case, the issue of theory development becomes important, because theories enables us to form hypotheses and propositions, which in turn helps us top better understand these various factors, as they impact on the tourism industry.
It is important to note that the tourism industry is intrinsically prone to natural disasters, economic crises, and war and these are somewhat connected to the issue of security in the tourism industry. In order that we may succinctly illustrate the connection of these different elements, the development of theories with regard to tourism security, becomes a necessity. The elements of security and safety are quite important if at all we seek to ensure that the tourism sector is of sound quality. Providing a tourism security theory is an important undertaking as it shall offer predictions and explanations on the various phenomenon that characterizes tourism security by way of relaying a number of its components, such as terrorism, crimes, riots, and wars, to correspond with another phenomenon that impacts on the tourism industry, such as the motivation of the offenders in the tourism industry, the demand for tourism, behavior of the victims, location, and opportunity, amongst others.
Further, the construction of a theory on tourism security shall pave way fro the establishment of concepts, or perceptions, like the kind of fear that a tourist may harbor, that they are going to be robbed, from the perspective of tourism security. In addition, the process of concept establishment would also enable us to visualize possible weapons of crime, in as far as tourism security is concerned. These include knives and guns, amongst others. Another importance of concept constructions in the establishment of tourism security theory is that owing to the fact that concepts shall often entail a number of values, categories, and even sub concepts, and these have a tendency to following a certain continuum or dimensions that may be easily recognised. For example, such a continuum could be a predictor to the total number of robberies that have a connection with the tourism industry. In this case, concepts could be used to develop a theory in tourism security and by extension the theory so developed would help to point at for example, certain patterns of crimes, as they affect the tourism industry.
Another importance of the theory on tourism security is we are in a position to predict the nature of crises and security incidents that are connected wit tourism. In this case, it becomes possible therefore to hypothesise the various forms of security incidents that usually afflict the tourism industry. The centrality of the tourism security concept development hinges upon the substantial impact that it exerts on tourism.
Theories are important in the study of tourism security because they help explain the various industries that are interconnected or dependent on the tourism industry. In addition, the theories also enable us to explore the impact that usually accompanies lapses in tourism security, such as the acts of terrorism, or crime activities. Moreover, theories helps to indicate how a security crisis to a local tourism destination may end up impacting on the economy of the local communities that benefits from such a tourist destination, as well as the impact at the national and global level.
