Chapter 9 - Case Studies: Four Tourism Cities

Abstract

Chapter 9 is a compendium of four tourism destinations from around the world. Although tourism security is often in the hands of private security professionals, the face of a community is its police department and it is toward the police department that outsiders often look for help. The four cities examined represent different types of tourism throughout the Americas. Two are up-and-coming destinations: Charleston, South Carolina, and the Dominican Republic. Interestingly enough, both locales have tourism police that recognize the importance of tourism as a major economic force and have integrated the principles found in Chapter 1 into their tourism policing. The other two locations are Las Vegas and Rio de Janeiro. These are more “mature” tourism destinations that specialize in mega-tourism. Las Vegas is the largest (in dollars spent) tourism locale in the United States and Rio de Janeiro has become the premier city for major events the decade of 2010–2020. In both cases these cities’ police departments have expressed frustration over what they need to do and what they can do. When read as a single unit these four locales present an overall view of the state of tourism security, its hopes, and its challenges.