Evaluating Female Tourist’s Perception about Security and Safety While Visiting Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

Abstract

Purpose : Safe and secure environment decides the success or failure of a tourist destination. Due to some socio-cultural phenomena, women are more vulnerable regarding security and safety issues. Cox’s Bazar, a popular tourist destination in Bangladesh, has recently faced a negative reputation for being an unsafe place because of some unexpected incidents and its widespread media attention. This paper intends to evaluate the perception of female travelers, who visited Cox’s Bazar in January and February 2022, while staying there, and how they perceived security and safety in Cox’s Bazar. Methodology: 312 women tourists from Cox’s Bazar have been surveyed through a self-administrated two-part questionnaire. The sample size was determined by using a non-probability random sampling technique following the quantitative data analysis method. Findings: The findings shows that participants had reasonably positive perceptions of security and safety, although they felt unsafe going out at night. The main concern reported was snatch thief and pick-pocketing cases. Practical implications: Deploying more police and enhancing the provision of closed-circuit television (CCTV) was found to be an important instrument that may increase security and safety perception. Originality: Very few genders centric research on tourism crime has been done lately. Recent media attention about women tourists’ safety and security raised a concern to identify specific loopholes regarding security to ensure safe travel for a female in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Keywords: Cox’s Bazar; Tourism; Perception; Women safety; Crime; Security DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/14-14-04 Publication date: July 31 st 2022