SAFETY AND SECURITY OF TOURISTS AT THE KAKUM NATIONAL PARK, GHANA

ABSTRACT

The importance of safety and security of tourists at attraction sites is of

paramount concern. However, literature which takes into consideration both

tourists’ and management’s perspectivesat these sites is underrepresented.With the

aid of structured open and close ended questions, a total of 387 local and foreign

tourists as well as 13 management were involved in a cross-sectional study of

tourists’ safety and security at the Kakum National Park, Ghana. A safety and

security framework was adopted from Yang and Nair (2013).An observation

checklist was used to appraise the safety and security measures at the park.

Tourists’ adaptive behaviours to threats were included. The results from the study

showed thatgenerally, about 52.7 % of the respondents felt unsafe at KNP.

Generally, the KNP was found to have inadequate safety and security measures

because 68% of the check listed items were not available. Notably, it emerged that

tourists’ who felt safe (47.3%)attributed their feeling of safety and security to the

presence of tour guides and other staff.Tourists’ adaptive behaviours to threats

included “personal vigilance”, “follow instructions”, “call for assistance”, and

“personal physical measures”. Tourists’ negative perceptions as a result of the

inadequate measures can have implications for tourists’ future travel intentions.

This provides management with valuable information that could be used as a

baseline to improve the safety and security measures at KNP. Again, management

should improve the skills and knowledge of tour guides through formal training

since tourists’ positive perceptions were attributed to the presence of tour guides.

Further research could be oriented towards a comparative study on tourists’ safety

and security at all types of attractions across the nation.