Experts: Resorts must address safety

Monday, Dec. 17, 2001 | 10:51 a.m.

Resort marketing departments have a new mission now that the events of Sept. 11 have brought terrorism and tourism closer together.

Two experts in safe travel say hotel-casinos have a greater role in making their guests feel secure -- and the guests themselves have the responsibility of being wary of danger when they go on vacation.

Kevin Coffey and Peter Tarlow, experts in crimes committed against travelers, took different approaches to the issue in recent Las Vegas appearances.

Coffey, a detective sergeant with the Los Angeles Police Department, told delegates to the 18th annual Governor's Conference on Travel and Tourism last week that they should use their local government resources, including police and fire departments, to make their properties safer.

Tarlow, a sociologist specializing in tourism and economic development on the Distance Learning Faculty of George Washington University, gave a recent lecture on safe travel in the world of terrorism at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Although their audiences were different, their message was clearly the same -- the tourism industry and their customers have greater responsibilities to safety and the consequence for failing to live up to those responsibilities is suffering an economic beating like the one the United States took after September's terrorist attacks.

"You can no longer compete just with a better price," Coffey told an audience comprised of tourism industry professionals. "The marketing department (of resort properties) will be required to sell security as well as tours and amenities."

Coffey said resorts have to take a proactive role in informing guests about their safety. That isn't easy, considering that resorts traditionally resist telling guests about dangers that could befall them for fear of scaring them unnecessarily.

But with police agencies on high alert and resort owners conscious that terrorists like high-profile targets for political reasons, Coffey said "clients don't want to hear, 'I'll get back to you,' " when they ask about safety plans.

Coffey recommended establishing a set of safety and security standards and using local law enforcement and public safety agencies as resources to put them into effect.

He offered a long list of issues resorts must address in order to guarantee their guests' safety. Among them:

* Designating an employee as a case manager to take charge when a guest is a crime victim, especially if that victim is from a foreign country.

* Conducting their own background checks on newly hired security officers and not taking for granted that a contracted security force has properly trained them for their jobs.

* Knowing what makes their property different from a competitor's when it comes to safety and being able to respond to safety questions.

* Developing a fire evacuation plan -- and practicing it with employees with the assistance of the fire department.

* Producing safety information, including evacuation plans, on the resort's Internet site so that future guests can familiarize themselves with them before they arrive.

* Assembling plans for dealing with a variety of crimes common at resorts -- thefts from vehicles, credit card and check fraud, pickpocketing and distraction thefts, laptop computer thefts, sexual assaults and domestic violence crimes and crimes involving narcotics and alcohol abuse.

Coffey said most resorts already have comprehensive plans in effect, but making them more visible will instill confidence among guests. He also said some resort communities have developed creative ideas to boost safety.

Honolulu, for example, has developed an "Aloha Patrol" of visible volunteers who carry communications devices to quickly report criminal activity to police and serve as ambassadors to tourists. Charleston, S.C., has built a fund from which crime victims are paid up to $400 to pay for some of the inconveniences they suffer -- a public relations effort that takes some of the sting out of being a victim.

Coffey also recommended that resort security officers attend a tourism security conference sponsored annually by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority -- an event that, in the past, has featured Tarlow as one of its speakers.

In his UNLV address, Tarlow addressed a general audience about their responsibilities as travelers. He warned that because of the nature of terrorists to seek high-profile platforms to espouse their political ideologies, tourists in popular destinations like Las Vegas can be at risk.

He also pointed out that being smart can go a long way toward being safe.

"Very often, when we travel, we leave our common sense at home," Tarlow told a group of about 100 attending the University Forum lecture.

Sometimes, just looking like a tourist sends a signal to a criminal because a thief knows someone from out of town is less likely to return to the city for a trial.

"You have to dress more like the people of the region," Tarlow said. "Wearing a fanny pack says, 'I am an idiot, rob me.' "

He said it is a terrorist's ambition to kill an economy -- not just innocent bystanders. Terrorists look for people whose guard is down and, similarly, a criminal will look for an unsuspecting victim.

Tarlow said although the Federal Aviation Administration has mandated the complete examination of luggage for harmful substances by next year, he isn't convinced the U.S. aviation industry will be able to accomplish that. He said technology will improve the ability of airport security officers to pick out criminals, but for now, the "profiling" of passengers may be necessary to keep air passengers safe.