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Tourist harassment
Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 384–399, 2007 0160-7383/$ - see front matter Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Printed in Great Britain
www.elsevier.com/locate/atoures
doi:10.1016/j.annals.2006.10.003
TOURIST HARASSMENT A Marketing Perspective Metin Kozak Mugla University, Turkey Abstract: Consumer services research contains few empirical studies of harassment involving tourists. Previous studies are largely in general typological terms. Relatively little is known about the effects of harassment on tourist behavior and on the host economy. The findings of this case study from Marmaris, Turkey suggest that a fundamental driver of harassment is the ambition of local businesses for greater benefits. It mostly took place on the street and the beach by vendors and the least occurred at hotel properties. A minority of respondents report forms such as sexual harassment, verbal abuse, physical abuse, and peddling of drugs. Keywords: harassment, hospitality, complaints, compliments, Turkey. Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Re´sume´: Harce`lement des touristes: une perspective de marketing. La recherche sur les services aux consommateurs comprend peu d’e´tudes empiriques sur le harce`lement des touristes. Les e´tudes ante´rieures se pre´sentent principalement de fac¸on typologique. On sait relativement peu des effets du harce`lement sur le comportement des touristes et sur l’e´conomie d’accueil. Les re´sultats de cette e´tude de cas de Marmaris, en Turquie, sugge`rent qu’une cause fondamentale du harce`lement est le de´sir des commerces locaux d’avoir de plus grands be´ne´fices. Le harce`lement a eu lieu le plus souvent dans la rue et a` la plage, commis par des vendeurs, et le moins souvent sur la proprie´te´ des hoˆtels. Une minorite´ des personnes interroge´es a signale´ des formes telles que harce`lement sexuel, violence verbale, abus physiques et trafic de drogues. Mots-cle´s: harce`lement, hospitalite´, plaintes, compliments, Turquie. Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
INTRODUCTION Tourism is a social phenomenon in which the quality of service depends on the degree of the interaction between service providers and consumers or end-users (Johns 1999). Therefore, understanding tourist–host relations for developing a positive tourist-host contact to enhance tourist satisfaction is important to repeat business (Bitner, Booms and Tetreault 1990; Krippendorf 1987). For example, Reisinger and Turner (1998) found that cultural differences in communication style, expressing feelings, establishing relationships, and attitudes influenced relations between Korean tourists and Australian service providers. Differences between tourists and hosts can create interaction Metin Kozak, with Master and PhD in tourism, is Associate Professor of Marketing in the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Mugla University (Mugla, Turkey. Email). He is author of Destination Benchmarking and has widely published in a variety of tourism and hospitality journals. His main research interests focus on consumer behavior, benchmarking, competitiveness, destination management and marketing, and Mediterranean tourism. 384
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difficulties (Krippendorf 1987; Pearce 1982). There is a dilemma in some cases because some people want service as it would occur in their own culture whereas some others seek different exposures (Mo, Howard and Havitz 1993). The experience of harassment depends on moving outside a tolerance zone. Tourists may resist being annoyed or disturbed during their holidays. In a specific reference to cross-cultural comparison, northern Europeans would rather just look at the offer, assess, and evaluate it in a rational way. The advisory role of the supplier at this stage is expected to be passionless and unemotional. The purchaser is to receive objective information. For them, invading private space as a selling method is disturbing and annoying (Kozak 2002). When it is considered a service failure, it results in a loss of holiday quality. The existing service marketing and consumer behavior literature contains few empirical studies of harassment involving those visiting a destination. The study by de Albuquerque and McElroy (2001) is known as the first of its kind on this subject, but it does not rigorously develop the theory behind and solutions for harassment. Given that there is little theoretical consideration of it as an unintentional result of cultural differences influencing tourist behavior, the present study seeks to answer such questions as where, why, and how tourists are harassed, to shed light on their opinions about or reactions to such an experience, and to explore the extent to which harassment has an impact on one’s overall holiday quality and future behavior. The study also seeks to direct the attention of public and private sector representatives and of vendors towards harassment’s impacts on the development of their local and national tourism industry.
HARASSMENT IN TOURISM From a broader perspective, Barnett (2001) considers hospitality as referring to accord tourists with a warm welcome. He specifies its indicators as the provision of food, a place to rest, and nice conversation. In this respect, ‘‘hospitality’’ and ‘‘harassment’’ are words identifying two different aspects of a national culture and of a tourist’s experience. On the one hand, hospitality is regarded as a significant input for receiving compliments from outsiders (Bahar 2005; Kozak 2004a, 2004b; Mohsin 2005; Tucker 2001). On the other hand, members of the same society are perceived negatively because of their behavior or attitude towards outsiders, which is then perceived to be the primary reason for dissatisfaction and complaints (Haralambupoulos and Pizam 1996; Korzay and Alvarez 2005; Neumann 2005). These statements correspond with the proposition of the dual-factor theory in customer satisfaction measurement. This theory suggests that a person may be both very satisfied and very dissatisfied with a product or a service (Yi 1990). The hospitality factor is important in developing positive memories and stimulating people to come back, while the harassment factor has the equivalent power to discourage visitation
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or spending behavior. The need is to identify contexts where these two terms interact and their relative power in influencing a potential tourist’s decisionmaking. There is some evidence that various commentators see hospitality and harassment as a consequence of the style and pace of tourism development in an area. For example, Haralambopoulos and Pizam (1996) found that the local hospitality for foreigners was improved as a result of tourism activities in the Greek island of Samos. Generally speaking, the quality of interpersonal interaction between tourists and frontline employees drives consumption evaluations (Mattila and Patterson 2004). That is, service organizations operating in multicultural environments such as tourism need to be sensitive to the diversity of their customers. There are many problematic elements in regard to locals’ relations with both tourists and one another. Although it is possible to experience the taste of traditional hospitality in non-touristy small villages, particularly in the interior of Turkey (Tucker 2003), there is a sense that this authenticity may disappear in similar towns of the coastal zones and metropolitan cities (Korzay and Alvarez 2005). This way, the recent rapid development of small businesses in such places as Marmaris has led to a sharp increase in competition among locals. Although host-host conflict/competition may be the root of some problems, contradictions and conflicts between hosts and guests are also usually inevitable. Understanding the particular reasons for and consequences of such relationships is a main focus in this paper.
Major Types of Harassment The government of Barbados views harassment generally as ‘‘the use of obscene language, gestures, and actions to annoy, taunt, abuse, and insult a person’’ (de Albuquerque and McElroy 2001:487). Based upon this definition and the typology of harassment outlined in the same source, this study identifies five specific types of harassment for further consideration. The first arises when a tourist feels harrassed because of persistently being asked to visit shops or pestered to make a purchase (harassment by vendors). Next is the case where tourists—male or female—are approached by someone soliciting an unwanted sexual relationship either for a payment or on a volunteer basis (sexual harassment). The third is the use of obscene language or gestures to make tourists feel annoyed or threatened (verbal abuse). The fourth is where tourists are approached with aggressive actions. There can be an abusive encounter or insult, suggesting bodily mistreatment is likely (physical abuse). The fifth is the crime-oriented matter of dealings in relation to drugs (peddling of drugs). Obviously, tourists may be subject to any of these types of harassment, regardless of their social status. McElroy (2001) provides a brief summary of different types occurring in several internationally well-known popular destinations. While Greece is a location for drug peddlers, the Palestinian Territories and Jamaica are known to be a center of sexual harassment. Tourists
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visiting places such as Bali, Barbados, and Kenya are usually expected to experience the persistence of vendors while walking on the street or window-shopping, whereas other forms of harassment appear to be minor. In some countries where this occurs, local tourism organizations take precautions to eliminate it. For example, due to the growing number of complaints from tourists, travel agents and tour operators asked the Kenyan government to end harassment by vendors in Malindi Town (Nyagah 2004). While shopping here, they had to deal with a large number of freelance tour guides, traders, money changers, and street children confronting them at various points every day. The harassment was claimed to threaten the city’s image as a desirable destination. A similar situation was experienced by the researcher while on a recent visit to Beijing, China. Tourism experts explain this situation to be a result of the relationship between rich guests versus poor hosts, unequal distribution of the national income, and a practical method to support one’s daily life in the destination country (de Albuquerque and McElroy 2001). Several magazines and newspapers report that tourists encounter harassment problems in different settings and contexts in other countries such as Cuba, India, and the Caribbean islands (virtual search engines might be of help to trace detailed information on these cases). What happens particularly in the Caribbean is worth noting here. Female tourists experienced sexual harassment while males had problems with drug peddlers. The majority of incidents were experienced on the beach, the least at hotels. As a result of an increasingly unfavorable reputation, both the local government and tourism organizations paid attention to promoting effective solutions to minimize harassment. Deployment of wardens and police officers on popular beaches was one major precautionary step. They charged fines and pressed charges that went as far as imprisonment. As a result, fewer cases were recorded in the following months. The issue of men being harassed by sexual professionals also needs to be noted, such as prostitutes harassing foreign males in the Caribbean and Pacific Asian countries such as China and Thailand (Cohen 2003; Oppermann 1999). To understand why tourists are bothered particularly by vendors, there is a need to consider the intention of harassers. In this context, past research has introduced various reasons why harassment has become a social problem (de Albuquerque and McElroy 2001). Frequently, tourists are treated as wealthy targets from whom income can be extracted. There is also evidence to suggest that harassment is due to the lack of adequate regulations to deter offenders, to inadequate local planning, and to poor organization of shops in terms of better human relations and consumer services. All these reasons reflect the opinions of either researchers or public or private authorities based on the supply side. Consultation with tourists, the demand side, is limited. Therefore, research as to what they think about the roots and consequences of harassment and what they recommend to reduce such problems is also desirable and worthy of further investigation. Conventional wisdom suggests that the frequency of complaints tends to rise when customers experience service failures during the
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consumption stage (Halstead, Morash and Ozment 1996; Mattila and Patterson 2004; Wong 2004). In tourism, as in all industries, products (destinations) face the problem of customer dissatisfaction. Complaints about particular products or services should lead to improved products or services so other customers do not experience similar discontent (Richins 1979). Addressing complaints can be a key to acquiring loyal customers (Halstead et al 1996). Therefore, research on this subject is important for taking effective action to eliminate causes of complaints. This study is based on the assumption that harassment is one of the significant causes of customer dissatisfaction. Despite the abundance of studies on complaints regarding hotels and restaurants, there is a lack of systematic research on harassment influencing return. Given this, one aim is determining the influence of harassment on the overall satisfaction levels of tourists visiting a destination and their future behavioral intentions. The intent is understanding the extent to which the problem of harassment has practical implications and how its negative consequences can be avoided. Finally, given the results of past research (de Albuquerque and McElroy 2001; McElroy 2001), one may also see a correlation between harassment and participants’ sociodemographic profiles. In other words, the nature of harassment may be subject to differences in tourists’ demographic background or partly a function of their holiday characteristics. For example, first-time tourists may be expected to encounter more problems than repeaters who might have already become familiar with the location and the local traditions. In a similar vein, elderly people might be less concerned about this problem because of their intentions mostly to stay in the accommodation facility or take trips to other places. Moreover, investigating the relationship between income and the experience of harassment could be promising. One may predict that those with higher income levels and who have made a greater number of purchases from vendors are less likely to feel harassed. In contrast, the typical tourist groups with lower income levels usually prefer cheaper destinations and thereby would be at more risk of experiencing harassment because they have less to spend in the first place and would more likely cruise the shops without buying. As for the influence of the accommodation type, one would suggest that those staying at a large holiday complex or preferring an all-inclusive type of holiday would be less likely to feel harassed. This study tries to gain insights into such relationships as well.
Study Methods The research proceeded in two stages. In the first, based on the de Albuquerque and McElroy (2001) work, a survey was developed consisting of an introduction and 17 questions. The introduction describes the purpose of the study. Five major harassment cases were provided to help respondents become familiar with the subject. The questionnaire was finalized by adding variables developed considering the ini-
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tial feedback obtained from face-to-face conversation with a small group of tourists and shopkeepers. There is an initial question regarding any harassment experience, followed by a set of other specific ones. For variables requiring a rating, a range from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) was adopted. ‘‘Do not know’’ is allowed when making a rating does not make sense to a respondent (Dhar and Simonson 2003; Plous 1993). Responses to such questions were meant to elicit the extent to which the subjects experienced any harassment. Satisfaction with the holiday just being completed was measured by a 5-point scale. Future behavior was assessed by the intention of word-of-mouth recommendation (How likely are you to recommend your holiday to your friends and relatives?) and by repeat visit intention (How likely are you to come back in the future?). Two further open-ended questions were included: Why do you think the locals or the hosts are inclined to harass foreign tourists, and what do you believe are solutions? In the second stage, data collection was carried out during a fourweek period in the summer of 2003. The researcher’s personal observations and consultations with both the public and private authorities indicated that summer was the period when tourists most often experienced harassment. Screening to select respondents resulted in identifying tourists who were British and stayed at least a week in a commercial accommodation in the region of Marmaris, Turkey. Only British citizens were sampled to minimize problems with questionnaire translation and response patterns that could reflect cultural bias. Since British citizens made up 27% of all domestic and international tourists visiting Marmaris in 2002 (according to the statistics of the local tourism office), their experience yielded a general perspective on harassment in the area. Data were collected during eight visits to the airport, each lasting no longer than two hours. Duration was limited in order not to interfere with the flow of airport traffic and custom control. A potential respondent passing the airport passport and security control was approached by the author and asked if s/he would like to participate in the survey, regardless of whether any harassment was experienced. Those who were willing who met the sampling criteria were handed a copy of the questionnaire along with a pen. A total of 262 instruments were collected; six were eliminated because of missing values for critical variables.
Study Results Demographic characteristics of respondents reveal that a slight preponderance of them was female (51%). Two-thirds represent the middle-age group, 25–44 (66.5%). Their economic profile on the basis of net annual family income earning between US$28,000 and $56,000 was dominated primarily by the middle-level group (44.0%), followed by a lower income group obtaining less than $28,000 per year (36.0%). The majority of respondents had a previous experience in Turkey at least once (60.0%), but the proportion of those with a previous experience
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in Marmaris, the study area, was less (42.0%); thus, some had had the opportunity to visit other places in the country. A large number preferred a two-week holiday (61.0%), followed by one-week (21.0%). Approximately two-thirds stayed in bed and breakfast and self-catering types of accommodation (63.6%), where they were expected not to stay in the facility for the whole day and/or vacation. This finding corresponds to the findings of past research indicating that allinclusive is the most dominant type of holiday package for all nationalities except for British tourists who tend to prefer self-catering types (Gokovali, Bahar and Kozak 2006). The study findings indicate that almost 45% of the respondents experienced some harassment. Given variability associated with a sample size of 256, if the proportion applies to the population about half of British tourists experience harassment. As for its nature, the findings suggest that the prevalance order is persistence of vendors (mean = 3.86), sexual harassment (mean = 1.36), verbal and physical abuse (mean = 1.29), and peddling of drugs (1.09). It appears that the clearly dominant harassment is vendor persistence. These results parallel those for Barbados (de Albuquerque and McElroy 2001). A further analysis was undertaken to identify the source of the harassment (Table 1). Most harassment took place on the street and the beach by vendors and the least occurred at hotel properties. Vendors are clearly perceived to be in the center of the harassment experience. In Turkey, service providers see nothing wrong with ‘‘calling’’ customers in and encouraging them to purchase products or services. Some vendors with whom the author consulted at some business meetings, insisted that there is nothing wrong with this style of doing business. They view themselves as offering help to customers. Table 2 shows the differences between the subjects who reported harassment and those who did not. Results are presented for overall satisfaction and future intentions. As expected, those who experienced no harassment were more likely than those who encountered it to be satisfied overall, intend to recommend, and expect to come back. Therefore, one may propose that lack of harassment tends to foster a positive holiday experience (overall satisfaction) and thus affects intentions to recommend and return. Table 1. Sources of Harassment (n = 116) Harassment by
Mean
Vendors Yacht staff Beach staff Tour guides Taxi drivers Beggars Hotel staff Drug peddlers
4.27 2.47 2.45 2.38 2.21 2.13 1.50 1.50
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Table 2. Comparison between the Harassed and Non-harassed Tourists Summary Questions
How satisfied with the current holiday How likely to recommend the current holiday to your friends/relatives How likely to come back in the future
Mean
Those Reported No Harassment (n = 140)
Those T value Reported Harassment (n = 116)
Sig. t
4.62
4.72
4.50
2.764
.006
4.47
4.62
4.30
3.115
.002
4.56
4.73
4.36
4.126
.000
Regression was used to quantify the influence of diverse variables on tourists’ overall holiday experience and their future behavioral intention. The results suggest that the persistence of vendors had a consistent and strong negative effect on the level of overall satisfaction (b = .212, p < .05). In regard to factors that affect respondents’ potential decision not to revisit in the future, three variables exert significantly more influence than the others (Table 3). These are negative recommendations by friends and relatives (b = .436, p < .001), the lack of sports facilities and activities (b = .260, p < .05), and the problem of harassment (b = .207, p < .05). Specifically, the more friends and relatives were negative about their vacations elsewhere, the more the respondents were unlikely to return. Harassment has a higher impact on one’s decision not to visit the same destination than it does on overall trip satisfaction. One can note that that those experiencing any problem with their vacations are likely to report this to their friends and relatives. This is different from not recommending. As discussed in Kozak and Beaman (2006), this raises the matter of ‘‘recommending’’ needing to be on a bipolar scale from, for example, ‘‘ 5 definitely recommend not going’’ to ‘‘+5, highly recommend going’’. A chi-square test was also undertaken to test the assumption that a correlation exists between the subjects’ demographic or tourism characteristics and their harassment experiences. These variables include gender, age, income, and the type of holiday. The results failed
Table 3. Regression Analysis of the Intention not to Return Variable
Negative recommendation by friends and relatives Lack of sports facilities and activities The problem of harassment Constant
Standardized Beta Coef.
T
Sig t
.436 .260 .207 3.385
4.106 2.442 2.122 8.557
.000 .016 .036 .000
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to indicate that the harassment experience was linked to different personal characteristics. For example, the findings (not shown) indicate that for males and females there were no statistically discernible differences in the propensity to experience harassment. Even annual income did not appear to be a significant variable to explain the difference between those reporting harassment and lack of it. This finding suggests that what tourists can afford does affect their feelings of being harassed. Although those who stayed in self-catering properties appeared to experience harassment more than those using other types, this is not statistically supported. The reason for this finding could be that the former group has more freedom to go out and experience contact with service providers outside of their accommodations whereas the latter group prefers to stay in and benefit from their facilities and service offers. Why Harass Tourists? Content analysis was employed to explore what the subjects express, in their own words, as the possible reasons of harassment and as ways to minimize this harassment. The analysis of the open-ended questions provides lists of words (or items) in the space provided for each question. These items were ordered according to the number of times that they appear. The frequency values were then calculated for each item by dividing each value by the total size of the sample population. Content items were ranked in order of the percentage value from the highest to the lowest. As seen from Table 4, respondents reported several reasons why the locals or the hosts are inclined to harass foreign tourists. It is of interest that 78% of those who reported harassment believe that ‘‘the intention to get much money in order to stay in the business’’ is the number one reason for shopkeepers to harass foreign tourists walking through their shops. One response was ‘‘Money. . . They want our money. It seems they are prepared to hassle tourists at great lengths in the hope that we will hand over our money.’’ Another respondent states this by ‘‘Because they [the vendors] seem to think that foreign tourists have a lot of money to spend.’’ As such, their economic profile is ranked as the perceived second reason to be harassed (11%), followed by another statement that the staff in tourism is not Table 4. Perceived Reasons of Harassment (n = 104) Potential Reasons Keeping in business/to get money The belief that tourists have money The belief that staff are paid little money for what they do The belief that tourists may like it Total Note: Some respondents reported multiple reasons.
n
%
87 12 12 1 112
77.7 10.7 10.7 0.9 100.0
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paid well enough for what they are expected to do (11%). One comments that tourism employees ‘‘are not paid well. They have the expectation that their monthly salary will be higher if they attract more clients in’’. Despite the fact that sexual harassment was reported infrequently, it is still worth exploring its potential root causes. Most respondents reporting it appear to be cognizant of cultural differences between the destination country and their home country. For example, one female respondent felt that sexual harassment occurs ‘‘usually because the European women dress provocatively and are generally seen as easy. Also there is an idea that they [the European women] have lots of cash’’. This perception is due to the fact that Turkey is traditionally a male-oriented country and even today relations between men and women are not quite the same as those in the West. The expansion of the tourism industry gives Turkish men an opportunity to learn to feel at ease with foreign women despite the fact that few of the former speak any foreign language fluently and most are not quite sure how to treat foreign women. It is also the fact that female tourists rarely have intellectual dialogues with Turkish men in a language that they do not speak. Therefore, one may argue that these women are seen more as ‘‘one night stands’’ than anything else. How to Solve the Problem of Harassment? An extensive list of suggestions on how to deal with harassment was produced (Table 5). As tourists are often subject to harassment by street vendors, a first comment was often to give clients freedom on what they want to do or how to do shopping while walking through the street. One respondent emphasized that ‘‘[being accosted is] acceptable in markets; however, not in bars or restaurants. We should just be handed a card and left to move on or come inside’’. A comment that relates to what could have significant economic consequences was ‘‘Tourists may well purchase if left in peace to look. In many cases people become defensive when they are put under pressure’’. Another statement was ‘‘The vendors harass and stalk you. They should stop
Table 5. Suggestions to Minimize Harassment (n = 78) Comments
n
%
Allow tourists to do what they want (no need to harass) Take legal actions Offer good prices Pay more to the staff for what they do Stop opening new shops Invite inside with a card Total
45 20 8 8 2 1 84
53.6 23.8 9.5 9.5 2.4 1.2 100.0
Note: Some respondents reported multiple solutions.
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treating tourists like flies caught in a trap. We are likely to spend far more money if vendors are honest with their pricing and respect tourists’ ability to recognize a con artist. Allow us to shop in peace with fair pricing’’. A general feeling is that tourists want freedom to look around before being asked if any help is needed. The difference between cultures in Western and Eastern countries is emphasized in this case. While local shopkeepers see inviting tourists into their shops to buy something as a way to encourage business or help their customers, tourists from the West perceive this as being harassed, because in their culture the customer is expected to initiate shopping. Consistent with this, the majority commented that the solution to the problem was to allow the customers the freedom to make the first move. Taking legal actions was another solution proposed. The suggestion was that those involved in negative incidents with tourists may be fined or, as appropriate, charged with a crime and prosecuted. Since 2000, local government bodies (such as the governorship of Mugla Province) have recommended a number of measures to curtail harassment. According to this authority, the safety and security of tourists should be given very high priority. In conversation with the practitioners, officers, and shopkeepers, it was pointed out that there exists a regulation allowing for fines for harassment of customers. Shops can be closed for a specific period of time upon conviction of an offense. However, these measures have had no positive impact on dissuading some shopkeepers. There are also complaints by public officers working for the local administrative authorities that they have little power to control the situation. It seems clear that there would hardly have been any tourist complaints about harassment by vendors if the established measures had been welcomed and implemented in a positive manner. Finally, a few respondents complained about prices not being displayed with products: ‘‘We therefore do not trust the vendors and often leave without buying anything’’. Offering a pragmatic solution, one respondent said that harassment would be reduced by ‘‘better town planning such as controlling the number and size of hotels and restaurants so as to reduce competition and thus eliminate the need for hustlers’’. One comment was ‘‘stop opening any more shops in Marmaris. When I first came to Turkey, you could look in shops. Now if you look at anything they hassle’’. This provides a potential practical implication to be investigated further. Interestingly, the researcher’s personal observations indicate that some restaurants have already added a note at the top of their menus or billboards stating that, as part of their efforts to improve their image and marketing strategies, there is no harassment in their restaurants or shopping venues. It is obvious that both the supply and demand sides have become aware of this problem as well as its reasons and potential consequences.
CONCLUSION The purpose of this study was to understand whether foreign tourists visiting a destination might have harassment complaints and, if they
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did, what type of harassment they encountered and where, why, and how. Research findings from Marmaris, Turkey, confirmed that most harassment was by vendors and took place mainly on the street and on the beach. The least harassment occurred at hotel properties. A minority of respondents reported other types of harassment such as sexual, verbal and physical abuse, and peddling of drugs. These findings are also in accord with those of past research, indicating that vendors were the first group perceived to harass foreign tourists (de Albuquerque and McElroy 2001; McElroy 2001). Findings of this case study indicate that money is perceived as the primary reason to harass foreign tourists. Paying employees better is suggested by the respondents as a way to reduce money related harassment. This statement is congruent with the comment of Wallace (2003) on the need to improve the standard of locals’ quality of life in the case of Jamaica. These findings also broadly support the conclusion of de Albuquerque and McElroy that ‘‘harassment was simply viewed by vendors as attempts to make a living’’ (2001:490). The study also provides some empirical evidence to suggest that harassment has an impact on tourist behavior. Considerable differences in overall holiday satisfaction, word-of-mouth recommendation, and repeat visit intentions were observed between those reporting the absence and presence of harassment. Those harassed most were more likely to report lower satisfaction levels and repeat visit intentions than those with no experience of it at all. The results further suggest that the persistence of vendors had a consistent and strong negative effect on overall tourist satisfaction. These findings are similar to those of other studies on customer complaints previously undertaken by Kozak and Tasci (2005). There was a significant relationship between subjects with complaints about their vacations and their level of satisfaction, repeat visit, and recommendation intentions. Thus, refusing to deal with harassment will likely reduce tourists’overall satisfaction and future behavior. One should bear in mind that, as a result of domino effects, failures in one service attribute may engender service failures in other attributes (Halstead et al 1996), or alternatively one failure on an attribute may not be compensated with a success on another (Bettman, Luce and Payne 1998; Payne, Bettman and Johnson 1993). Thus, successful handling of harassment is critical to avoiding a spiral of increasing complaints. As opposed to the findings of the broader research by de Albuquerque and McElroy (2001), this case study provides no empirical evidence that significant differences occur for such variables as gender, age, and the type of holiday in terms of the overall perceived level of harassment. The former study points out that older tourists were less likely to be harassed because they stayed mostly at their hotels and did not venture out much at night, whereas younger ones experienced more harassment because they might have wanted to explore different hot spots. De Albuquerque and McElroy (2001) also note that female tourists experienced considerably greater sexual harassment than males. In addition, familiarity (repeaters versus first-timers) would also be a criterion to explain variances in harassment. Unfortunately, there
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is no evidence in the current smaller-scale study focused on British summer tourists to support the results discussed above. Such inconsistent results may warrant undertaking further empirical studies to see the situation in other tourist harassing countries and better undertand whether such results vary across tourism seasons and guest nationalities in the same destination as well as in different ones. This study provides the grounds to discuss some additional reasons for harassment that have not yet been considered extensively in the literature. In Turkey, the people residing in popular destinations have experienced social change particularly in the last two decades. Specifically, the majority have become wage earners and shopkeepers. Moreover, Turkey and some other Mediterranean countries are at different stages of developing their tourist industries. One may suggest that Turkey is perhaps at the stage where informal sectors, though declining, are still evident. There are still businesses run from temporary, makeshift premises, often selling food, drinks, clothing, and gifts on beaches and streets. These businesses are primary culprits in pestering tourists because of custom. Thus, the degree and type of harassment may also be a function of where the destination is along the lifecycle. As to the practical implications, harassment is a continuing problem without easy solutions. One step in the right direction would be to use the results of this study to widen the horizon for locals and service providers. Seminars that are open to the public and service providers should be set up to make them understand what they may lose if harassment is not appropriately managed. In cooperation with associations of vendors, training programs can be instigated to encourage friendly behavior and a desire to eliminate customer complaints. They should be able to reach the conclusion that, without losing their own cultural identity, it is in their best long-term economic interests to accommodate the cultural demands of foreign tourists. A further suggestion, which is more likely to be academically driven and considered as a long-term strategy, may include designing a special program and a pilot project for hospitality students interested in harassment that would enable them to spend at least part of their practicum studying this problem and making suggestions about how to minimize it. Such a program may provide the basis to achieve a socially and economically sustainable tourism development in the future. As the prospective employees for the future, those currently studying at tourism and hospitality schools should be taught to emphasize that this industry is important for the national economy and failing to address harassment compromises the contribution. To summarize, the consumer service literature contains few empirical studies of harassment involving those visiting a destination. Past studies largely point out what types of harassment occurs from a criminal perspective. Relatively little is known, other than in very general terms, about the effects of harassment on tourist behavior and about the economic impact of this problem. It is found that a fundamental driver of harassment is the vendors’ ambition to gain greater benefits from their business. From the theoretical point of view, the paper extends the traditional marketing research with specific reference to
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service marketing and consumer behavior in various ways. First, the existing literature is limited in the investigation of major types of harassment and offering practical implications. Thus, the marketing perspective of harassment needs broadening. Second, there is evidence that harassment has a negative influential impact on tourist behavior, including overall holiday quality and future plans. Finally, tourists are already aware of the reasons why they encounter harassment by vendors and, to a lesser degree, sexual harassment. They are able to express their own solutions to deal with harassment and feel these are reasonable and easy to implement. Interest in this field needs to grow from both theoretical and practical perspectives, to stimulate future research in order to come up with a better host-guest interaction particularly between culturally diverse tourist-receiving and touristgenerating countries. The study concludes by pointing to some of its limitations and suggesting avenues for further pursuit. First, although this differs from earlier research in terms of the methodology followed and the findings obtained, it only investigates tourists’ perceptions of harassment. However, it would be interesting to survey vendors or service providers as to their reasons and solutions for harassment for a possible comparison between supply and demand sides. Second, the amount of money spent for shopping or other daily activities may have a determining effect on harassment and should be investigated. Third, the discussion is limited only to a relatively small sample size drawn from British tourists in the summer season. Future studies that employ samples from different origins and across different seasons will enhance the generalizability of the results. For example, the study by de Albuquerque and McElroy (2001) confirmed that tourists from different nationalities are exposed to different types and degrees of harassment. This issue should be addressed in future studies. Acknowledgements—The author thanks Jay Beaman of Auctor Associates Ltd for his valuable comments and discussions on this topic. The assistance of Elif Capkunoglu in coding the data is also gratefully acknowledged.
REFERENCES Bahar, O. 2005 Exploring the Competitive Position of Turkey among its Rivals in the Mediterranean Basin. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Mugla University. Barnett, S. 2001 Manaakitanga: Maori Hospitality—A Case Study of Maori Accommodation Providers. Tourism Management 22:83–92. Bettman, J., M. Luce, and J. Payne 1998 Constructive Consumer Choice Processes. Journal of Consumer Research. 25(4):187–217. Bitner, M., B. Booms, and M. Tetreault 1990 The Service Encounter: Diagnosing Favourable and Unfavourable Incidents. Journal of Marketing 54:71–84.
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Cohen, E. 2003 Transnational Marriage in Thailand: The Dynamics of Extreme Heterogamy. In Sex and Tourism: Journeys of Romance, Love and Lust, G. Bauer and B. McKercher, eds., pp. 57–84. New York: Howard Hospitality Press. de Albuquerque, K., and J. McElroy 2001 Tourist Harassment: Barbados Survey Results. Annals of Tourism Research 28:477–492. Dhar, R., and I. Simonson 2003 The Effect of Forced Force on Choice. Journal of Marketing Research 40(2):146–160. Gokovali, U., O. Bahar, and M. Kozak 2006 Determinants of Length of Stay: A Practical Application of Survival Analysis, Tourism Management (in press). Halstead, D., E. Morash, and J. Ozment 1996 Comparing Objective Services Failures and Subjective Complaints: An Investigation of Domino and Halo Effects. Journal of Business Research 36(2):107–115. Haralambupoulos, N., and A. Pizam 1996 Perceived Impacts of Tourism: The Case of Samos. Annals of Tourism Research 23(3):503–526. Johns, N. 1999 What is this Thing Called Service? European Journal of Marketing 33(9/ 10):958–973. Korzay, M., and M. Alvarez 2005 Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction of Japanese Tourists in Turkey. Anatolia 16(2):176–193. Kozak, M. 2002 Destination Benchmarking. Annals of Tourism Research 29(2):497–519. 2004a Measuring Comparative Performance of Vacation Destinations: Using Tourists’ Self-Reported Judgments as an Alternative Approach. Tourism Analysis 9(3-4):247–252. 2004b Destination Benchmarking: Concepts, Practices and Operations. Oxon: CABI. Kozak, M., and A. Tasci 2005 Intentions and Consequences of Customer Complaints. Paper presented at the Fourth Consumer Psychology in Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure Symposium, Boston College, Montreal. Kozak, M., and J. Beaman 2006 Relationship Between Satisfaction and Future Behavior. Tourism Analysis (in press). Krippendorf, J. 1987 The Holidaymakers: Understanding the Impact of Leisure and Travel. London: Heinemann-Butterworth. Mattila, A., and P. Patterson 2004 The Impact of Culture on Consumers’ Perception of Service Recovery Efforts. Journal of Retailing 80(3):196–206. McElroy, J. 2001 Tourist Harassment: Review and Survey Results. Paper presented at the Second Caribbean Conference on Crime and Criminal Justice, University of the West Indies. Mo, C., D. Howard, and M. Havitz 1993 Testing an International Tourist Role Typology. Annals of Tourism Research 20:319–335. Mohsin, A. 2005 Tourist Attitudes and Destination Marketing: The Case of Australia’s Northern Territory and Malaysia. Tourism Management 26:723–732. Neumann, D. 2005 Hospitality and Reciprocity: Working Tourists in Dominica. Annals of Tourism Research 32:407–418.
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Nyagah, R. 2004 Agents Seek End to Harassment of Tourists (15 October 2004). Oppermann, M. 1999 Sex Tourism. Annals of Tourism Research 26:251–266. Payne, J. W., E. Bettman, and Johnson 1993 The Adaptive Decision-maker. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pearce, P. 1982 Perceived Changes in Holiday Destinations. Annals of Tourism Research 9:145–164. Plous, S. 1993 The Psychology of Judgment and Decision Making. New York: McGrawHill. Reisinger, Y., and L. Turner 1998 Cross-Cultural Differences in Tourism: A Strategy for Tourism Marketers. Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing 7(4):79–105. Richins, M. 1979 Consumer Perceptions of Costs and Benefits Associated with Complaining, In Refining Concepts and Measures of Consumer Satisfaction and Complaining Behavior: Papers from the Fourth Annual Conference on Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, H. Hunt and R. Day, eds., pp.50-53. Bloomington, Indiana. Tucker, H. 2001 Tourists and Troglodytes: Negotiating for Sustainability. Annals of Tourism Research 28:868–891. 2003 Living with Tourism. London: Routledge. Wallace, C. 2003 A Prosperous Jamaica (01 April 2005). Wong, N. 2004 The Role of Culture in the Perception of Service Recovery. Journal of Business Research 57:957–963. Yi, Y. 1990 A Critical Review of Consumer Satisfaction. In Review of Marketing, V. Zeithaml, ed., pp. 68–123. Chicago: American Marketing Association.
Submitted 22 January 2006. Resubmitted 1 June 2006. Resubmitted 2 August 2006. Final version 30 August 2006. Accepted 18 September 2006. Refereed anonymously. Coordinating Editor: Jerome L. McElroy
www.elsevier.com/locate/atoures
doi:10.1016/j.annals.2006.10.003
TOURIST HARASSMENT A Marketing Perspective Metin Kozak Mugla University, Turkey Abstract: Consumer services research contains few empirical studies of harassment involving tourists. Previous studies are largely in general typological terms. Relatively little is known about the effects of harassment on tourist behavior and on the host economy. The findings of this case study from Marmaris, Turkey suggest that a fundamental driver of harassment is the ambition of local businesses for greater benefits. It mostly took place on the street and the beach by vendors and the least occurred at hotel properties. A minority of respondents report forms such as sexual harassment, verbal abuse, physical abuse, and peddling of drugs. Keywords: harassment, hospitality, complaints, compliments, Turkey. Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Re´sume´: Harce`lement des touristes: une perspective de marketing. La recherche sur les services aux consommateurs comprend peu d’e´tudes empiriques sur le harce`lement des touristes. Les e´tudes ante´rieures se pre´sentent principalement de fac¸on typologique. On sait relativement peu des effets du harce`lement sur le comportement des touristes et sur l’e´conomie d’accueil. Les re´sultats de cette e´tude de cas de Marmaris, en Turquie, sugge`rent qu’une cause fondamentale du harce`lement est le de´sir des commerces locaux d’avoir de plus grands be´ne´fices. Le harce`lement a eu lieu le plus souvent dans la rue et a` la plage, commis par des vendeurs, et le moins souvent sur la proprie´te´ des hoˆtels. Une minorite´ des personnes interroge´es a signale´ des formes telles que harce`lement sexuel, violence verbale, abus physiques et trafic de drogues. Mots-cle´s: harce`lement, hospitalite´, plaintes, compliments, Turquie. Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
INTRODUCTION Tourism is a social phenomenon in which the quality of service depends on the degree of the interaction between service providers and consumers or end-users (Johns 1999). Therefore, understanding tourist–host relations for developing a positive tourist-host contact to enhance tourist satisfaction is important to repeat business (Bitner, Booms and Tetreault 1990; Krippendorf 1987). For example, Reisinger and Turner (1998) found that cultural differences in communication style, expressing feelings, establishing relationships, and attitudes influenced relations between Korean tourists and Australian service providers. Differences between tourists and hosts can create interaction Metin Kozak, with Master and PhD in tourism, is Associate Professor of Marketing in the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Mugla University (Mugla, Turkey. Email
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difficulties (Krippendorf 1987; Pearce 1982). There is a dilemma in some cases because some people want service as it would occur in their own culture whereas some others seek different exposures (Mo, Howard and Havitz 1993). The experience of harassment depends on moving outside a tolerance zone. Tourists may resist being annoyed or disturbed during their holidays. In a specific reference to cross-cultural comparison, northern Europeans would rather just look at the offer, assess, and evaluate it in a rational way. The advisory role of the supplier at this stage is expected to be passionless and unemotional. The purchaser is to receive objective information. For them, invading private space as a selling method is disturbing and annoying (Kozak 2002). When it is considered a service failure, it results in a loss of holiday quality. The existing service marketing and consumer behavior literature contains few empirical studies of harassment involving those visiting a destination. The study by de Albuquerque and McElroy (2001) is known as the first of its kind on this subject, but it does not rigorously develop the theory behind and solutions for harassment. Given that there is little theoretical consideration of it as an unintentional result of cultural differences influencing tourist behavior, the present study seeks to answer such questions as where, why, and how tourists are harassed, to shed light on their opinions about or reactions to such an experience, and to explore the extent to which harassment has an impact on one’s overall holiday quality and future behavior. The study also seeks to direct the attention of public and private sector representatives and of vendors towards harassment’s impacts on the development of their local and national tourism industry.
HARASSMENT IN TOURISM From a broader perspective, Barnett (2001) considers hospitality as referring to accord tourists with a warm welcome. He specifies its indicators as the provision of food, a place to rest, and nice conversation. In this respect, ‘‘hospitality’’ and ‘‘harassment’’ are words identifying two different aspects of a national culture and of a tourist’s experience. On the one hand, hospitality is regarded as a significant input for receiving compliments from outsiders (Bahar 2005; Kozak 2004a, 2004b; Mohsin 2005; Tucker 2001). On the other hand, members of the same society are perceived negatively because of their behavior or attitude towards outsiders, which is then perceived to be the primary reason for dissatisfaction and complaints (Haralambupoulos and Pizam 1996; Korzay and Alvarez 2005; Neumann 2005). These statements correspond with the proposition of the dual-factor theory in customer satisfaction measurement. This theory suggests that a person may be both very satisfied and very dissatisfied with a product or a service (Yi 1990). The hospitality factor is important in developing positive memories and stimulating people to come back, while the harassment factor has the equivalent power to discourage visitation
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or spending behavior. The need is to identify contexts where these two terms interact and their relative power in influencing a potential tourist’s decisionmaking. There is some evidence that various commentators see hospitality and harassment as a consequence of the style and pace of tourism development in an area. For example, Haralambopoulos and Pizam (1996) found that the local hospitality for foreigners was improved as a result of tourism activities in the Greek island of Samos. Generally speaking, the quality of interpersonal interaction between tourists and frontline employees drives consumption evaluations (Mattila and Patterson 2004). That is, service organizations operating in multicultural environments such as tourism need to be sensitive to the diversity of their customers. There are many problematic elements in regard to locals’ relations with both tourists and one another. Although it is possible to experience the taste of traditional hospitality in non-touristy small villages, particularly in the interior of Turkey (Tucker 2003), there is a sense that this authenticity may disappear in similar towns of the coastal zones and metropolitan cities (Korzay and Alvarez 2005). This way, the recent rapid development of small businesses in such places as Marmaris has led to a sharp increase in competition among locals. Although host-host conflict/competition may be the root of some problems, contradictions and conflicts between hosts and guests are also usually inevitable. Understanding the particular reasons for and consequences of such relationships is a main focus in this paper.
Major Types of Harassment The government of Barbados views harassment generally as ‘‘the use of obscene language, gestures, and actions to annoy, taunt, abuse, and insult a person’’ (de Albuquerque and McElroy 2001:487). Based upon this definition and the typology of harassment outlined in the same source, this study identifies five specific types of harassment for further consideration. The first arises when a tourist feels harrassed because of persistently being asked to visit shops or pestered to make a purchase (harassment by vendors). Next is the case where tourists—male or female—are approached by someone soliciting an unwanted sexual relationship either for a payment or on a volunteer basis (sexual harassment). The third is the use of obscene language or gestures to make tourists feel annoyed or threatened (verbal abuse). The fourth is where tourists are approached with aggressive actions. There can be an abusive encounter or insult, suggesting bodily mistreatment is likely (physical abuse). The fifth is the crime-oriented matter of dealings in relation to drugs (peddling of drugs). Obviously, tourists may be subject to any of these types of harassment, regardless of their social status. McElroy (2001) provides a brief summary of different types occurring in several internationally well-known popular destinations. While Greece is a location for drug peddlers, the Palestinian Territories and Jamaica are known to be a center of sexual harassment. Tourists
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visiting places such as Bali, Barbados, and Kenya are usually expected to experience the persistence of vendors while walking on the street or window-shopping, whereas other forms of harassment appear to be minor. In some countries where this occurs, local tourism organizations take precautions to eliminate it. For example, due to the growing number of complaints from tourists, travel agents and tour operators asked the Kenyan government to end harassment by vendors in Malindi Town (Nyagah 2004). While shopping here, they had to deal with a large number of freelance tour guides, traders, money changers, and street children confronting them at various points every day. The harassment was claimed to threaten the city’s image as a desirable destination. A similar situation was experienced by the researcher while on a recent visit to Beijing, China. Tourism experts explain this situation to be a result of the relationship between rich guests versus poor hosts, unequal distribution of the national income, and a practical method to support one’s daily life in the destination country (de Albuquerque and McElroy 2001). Several magazines and newspapers report that tourists encounter harassment problems in different settings and contexts in other countries such as Cuba, India, and the Caribbean islands (virtual search engines might be of help to trace detailed information on these cases). What happens particularly in the Caribbean is worth noting here. Female tourists experienced sexual harassment while males had problems with drug peddlers. The majority of incidents were experienced on the beach, the least at hotels. As a result of an increasingly unfavorable reputation, both the local government and tourism organizations paid attention to promoting effective solutions to minimize harassment. Deployment of wardens and police officers on popular beaches was one major precautionary step. They charged fines and pressed charges that went as far as imprisonment. As a result, fewer cases were recorded in the following months. The issue of men being harassed by sexual professionals also needs to be noted, such as prostitutes harassing foreign males in the Caribbean and Pacific Asian countries such as China and Thailand (Cohen 2003; Oppermann 1999). To understand why tourists are bothered particularly by vendors, there is a need to consider the intention of harassers. In this context, past research has introduced various reasons why harassment has become a social problem (de Albuquerque and McElroy 2001). Frequently, tourists are treated as wealthy targets from whom income can be extracted. There is also evidence to suggest that harassment is due to the lack of adequate regulations to deter offenders, to inadequate local planning, and to poor organization of shops in terms of better human relations and consumer services. All these reasons reflect the opinions of either researchers or public or private authorities based on the supply side. Consultation with tourists, the demand side, is limited. Therefore, research as to what they think about the roots and consequences of harassment and what they recommend to reduce such problems is also desirable and worthy of further investigation. Conventional wisdom suggests that the frequency of complaints tends to rise when customers experience service failures during the
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consumption stage (Halstead, Morash and Ozment 1996; Mattila and Patterson 2004; Wong 2004). In tourism, as in all industries, products (destinations) face the problem of customer dissatisfaction. Complaints about particular products or services should lead to improved products or services so other customers do not experience similar discontent (Richins 1979). Addressing complaints can be a key to acquiring loyal customers (Halstead et al 1996). Therefore, research on this subject is important for taking effective action to eliminate causes of complaints. This study is based on the assumption that harassment is one of the significant causes of customer dissatisfaction. Despite the abundance of studies on complaints regarding hotels and restaurants, there is a lack of systematic research on harassment influencing return. Given this, one aim is determining the influence of harassment on the overall satisfaction levels of tourists visiting a destination and their future behavioral intentions. The intent is understanding the extent to which the problem of harassment has practical implications and how its negative consequences can be avoided. Finally, given the results of past research (de Albuquerque and McElroy 2001; McElroy 2001), one may also see a correlation between harassment and participants’ sociodemographic profiles. In other words, the nature of harassment may be subject to differences in tourists’ demographic background or partly a function of their holiday characteristics. For example, first-time tourists may be expected to encounter more problems than repeaters who might have already become familiar with the location and the local traditions. In a similar vein, elderly people might be less concerned about this problem because of their intentions mostly to stay in the accommodation facility or take trips to other places. Moreover, investigating the relationship between income and the experience of harassment could be promising. One may predict that those with higher income levels and who have made a greater number of purchases from vendors are less likely to feel harassed. In contrast, the typical tourist groups with lower income levels usually prefer cheaper destinations and thereby would be at more risk of experiencing harassment because they have less to spend in the first place and would more likely cruise the shops without buying. As for the influence of the accommodation type, one would suggest that those staying at a large holiday complex or preferring an all-inclusive type of holiday would be less likely to feel harassed. This study tries to gain insights into such relationships as well.
Study Methods The research proceeded in two stages. In the first, based on the de Albuquerque and McElroy (2001) work, a survey was developed consisting of an introduction and 17 questions. The introduction describes the purpose of the study. Five major harassment cases were provided to help respondents become familiar with the subject. The questionnaire was finalized by adding variables developed considering the ini-
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tial feedback obtained from face-to-face conversation with a small group of tourists and shopkeepers. There is an initial question regarding any harassment experience, followed by a set of other specific ones. For variables requiring a rating, a range from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) was adopted. ‘‘Do not know’’ is allowed when making a rating does not make sense to a respondent (Dhar and Simonson 2003; Plous 1993). Responses to such questions were meant to elicit the extent to which the subjects experienced any harassment. Satisfaction with the holiday just being completed was measured by a 5-point scale. Future behavior was assessed by the intention of word-of-mouth recommendation (How likely are you to recommend your holiday to your friends and relatives?) and by repeat visit intention (How likely are you to come back in the future?). Two further open-ended questions were included: Why do you think the locals or the hosts are inclined to harass foreign tourists, and what do you believe are solutions? In the second stage, data collection was carried out during a fourweek period in the summer of 2003. The researcher’s personal observations and consultations with both the public and private authorities indicated that summer was the period when tourists most often experienced harassment. Screening to select respondents resulted in identifying tourists who were British and stayed at least a week in a commercial accommodation in the region of Marmaris, Turkey. Only British citizens were sampled to minimize problems with questionnaire translation and response patterns that could reflect cultural bias. Since British citizens made up 27% of all domestic and international tourists visiting Marmaris in 2002 (according to the statistics of the local tourism office), their experience yielded a general perspective on harassment in the area. Data were collected during eight visits to the airport, each lasting no longer than two hours. Duration was limited in order not to interfere with the flow of airport traffic and custom control. A potential respondent passing the airport passport and security control was approached by the author and asked if s/he would like to participate in the survey, regardless of whether any harassment was experienced. Those who were willing who met the sampling criteria were handed a copy of the questionnaire along with a pen. A total of 262 instruments were collected; six were eliminated because of missing values for critical variables.
Study Results Demographic characteristics of respondents reveal that a slight preponderance of them was female (51%). Two-thirds represent the middle-age group, 25–44 (66.5%). Their economic profile on the basis of net annual family income earning between US$28,000 and $56,000 was dominated primarily by the middle-level group (44.0%), followed by a lower income group obtaining less than $28,000 per year (36.0%). The majority of respondents had a previous experience in Turkey at least once (60.0%), but the proportion of those with a previous experience
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in Marmaris, the study area, was less (42.0%); thus, some had had the opportunity to visit other places in the country. A large number preferred a two-week holiday (61.0%), followed by one-week (21.0%). Approximately two-thirds stayed in bed and breakfast and self-catering types of accommodation (63.6%), where they were expected not to stay in the facility for the whole day and/or vacation. This finding corresponds to the findings of past research indicating that allinclusive is the most dominant type of holiday package for all nationalities except for British tourists who tend to prefer self-catering types (Gokovali, Bahar and Kozak 2006). The study findings indicate that almost 45% of the respondents experienced some harassment. Given variability associated with a sample size of 256, if the proportion applies to the population about half of British tourists experience harassment. As for its nature, the findings suggest that the prevalance order is persistence of vendors (mean = 3.86), sexual harassment (mean = 1.36), verbal and physical abuse (mean = 1.29), and peddling of drugs (1.09). It appears that the clearly dominant harassment is vendor persistence. These results parallel those for Barbados (de Albuquerque and McElroy 2001). A further analysis was undertaken to identify the source of the harassment (Table 1). Most harassment took place on the street and the beach by vendors and the least occurred at hotel properties. Vendors are clearly perceived to be in the center of the harassment experience. In Turkey, service providers see nothing wrong with ‘‘calling’’ customers in and encouraging them to purchase products or services. Some vendors with whom the author consulted at some business meetings, insisted that there is nothing wrong with this style of doing business. They view themselves as offering help to customers. Table 2 shows the differences between the subjects who reported harassment and those who did not. Results are presented for overall satisfaction and future intentions. As expected, those who experienced no harassment were more likely than those who encountered it to be satisfied overall, intend to recommend, and expect to come back. Therefore, one may propose that lack of harassment tends to foster a positive holiday experience (overall satisfaction) and thus affects intentions to recommend and return. Table 1. Sources of Harassment (n = 116) Harassment by
Mean
Vendors Yacht staff Beach staff Tour guides Taxi drivers Beggars Hotel staff Drug peddlers
4.27 2.47 2.45 2.38 2.21 2.13 1.50 1.50
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Table 2. Comparison between the Harassed and Non-harassed Tourists Summary Questions
How satisfied with the current holiday How likely to recommend the current holiday to your friends/relatives How likely to come back in the future
Mean
Those Reported No Harassment (n = 140)
Those T value Reported Harassment (n = 116)
Sig. t
4.62
4.72
4.50
2.764
.006
4.47
4.62
4.30
3.115
.002
4.56
4.73
4.36
4.126
.000
Regression was used to quantify the influence of diverse variables on tourists’ overall holiday experience and their future behavioral intention. The results suggest that the persistence of vendors had a consistent and strong negative effect on the level of overall satisfaction (b = .212, p < .05). In regard to factors that affect respondents’ potential decision not to revisit in the future, three variables exert significantly more influence than the others (Table 3). These are negative recommendations by friends and relatives (b = .436, p < .001), the lack of sports facilities and activities (b = .260, p < .05), and the problem of harassment (b = .207, p < .05). Specifically, the more friends and relatives were negative about their vacations elsewhere, the more the respondents were unlikely to return. Harassment has a higher impact on one’s decision not to visit the same destination than it does on overall trip satisfaction. One can note that that those experiencing any problem with their vacations are likely to report this to their friends and relatives. This is different from not recommending. As discussed in Kozak and Beaman (2006), this raises the matter of ‘‘recommending’’ needing to be on a bipolar scale from, for example, ‘‘ 5 definitely recommend not going’’ to ‘‘+5, highly recommend going’’. A chi-square test was also undertaken to test the assumption that a correlation exists between the subjects’ demographic or tourism characteristics and their harassment experiences. These variables include gender, age, income, and the type of holiday. The results failed
Table 3. Regression Analysis of the Intention not to Return Variable
Negative recommendation by friends and relatives Lack of sports facilities and activities The problem of harassment Constant
Standardized Beta Coef.
T
Sig t
.436 .260 .207 3.385
4.106 2.442 2.122 8.557
.000 .016 .036 .000
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to indicate that the harassment experience was linked to different personal characteristics. For example, the findings (not shown) indicate that for males and females there were no statistically discernible differences in the propensity to experience harassment. Even annual income did not appear to be a significant variable to explain the difference between those reporting harassment and lack of it. This finding suggests that what tourists can afford does affect their feelings of being harassed. Although those who stayed in self-catering properties appeared to experience harassment more than those using other types, this is not statistically supported. The reason for this finding could be that the former group has more freedom to go out and experience contact with service providers outside of their accommodations whereas the latter group prefers to stay in and benefit from their facilities and service offers. Why Harass Tourists? Content analysis was employed to explore what the subjects express, in their own words, as the possible reasons of harassment and as ways to minimize this harassment. The analysis of the open-ended questions provides lists of words (or items) in the space provided for each question. These items were ordered according to the number of times that they appear. The frequency values were then calculated for each item by dividing each value by the total size of the sample population. Content items were ranked in order of the percentage value from the highest to the lowest. As seen from Table 4, respondents reported several reasons why the locals or the hosts are inclined to harass foreign tourists. It is of interest that 78% of those who reported harassment believe that ‘‘the intention to get much money in order to stay in the business’’ is the number one reason for shopkeepers to harass foreign tourists walking through their shops. One response was ‘‘Money. . . They want our money. It seems they are prepared to hassle tourists at great lengths in the hope that we will hand over our money.’’ Another respondent states this by ‘‘Because they [the vendors] seem to think that foreign tourists have a lot of money to spend.’’ As such, their economic profile is ranked as the perceived second reason to be harassed (11%), followed by another statement that the staff in tourism is not Table 4. Perceived Reasons of Harassment (n = 104) Potential Reasons Keeping in business/to get money The belief that tourists have money The belief that staff are paid little money for what they do The belief that tourists may like it Total Note: Some respondents reported multiple reasons.
n
%
87 12 12 1 112
77.7 10.7 10.7 0.9 100.0
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paid well enough for what they are expected to do (11%). One comments that tourism employees ‘‘are not paid well. They have the expectation that their monthly salary will be higher if they attract more clients in’’. Despite the fact that sexual harassment was reported infrequently, it is still worth exploring its potential root causes. Most respondents reporting it appear to be cognizant of cultural differences between the destination country and their home country. For example, one female respondent felt that sexual harassment occurs ‘‘usually because the European women dress provocatively and are generally seen as easy. Also there is an idea that they [the European women] have lots of cash’’. This perception is due to the fact that Turkey is traditionally a male-oriented country and even today relations between men and women are not quite the same as those in the West. The expansion of the tourism industry gives Turkish men an opportunity to learn to feel at ease with foreign women despite the fact that few of the former speak any foreign language fluently and most are not quite sure how to treat foreign women. It is also the fact that female tourists rarely have intellectual dialogues with Turkish men in a language that they do not speak. Therefore, one may argue that these women are seen more as ‘‘one night stands’’ than anything else. How to Solve the Problem of Harassment? An extensive list of suggestions on how to deal with harassment was produced (Table 5). As tourists are often subject to harassment by street vendors, a first comment was often to give clients freedom on what they want to do or how to do shopping while walking through the street. One respondent emphasized that ‘‘[being accosted is] acceptable in markets; however, not in bars or restaurants. We should just be handed a card and left to move on or come inside’’. A comment that relates to what could have significant economic consequences was ‘‘Tourists may well purchase if left in peace to look. In many cases people become defensive when they are put under pressure’’. Another statement was ‘‘The vendors harass and stalk you. They should stop
Table 5. Suggestions to Minimize Harassment (n = 78) Comments
n
%
Allow tourists to do what they want (no need to harass) Take legal actions Offer good prices Pay more to the staff for what they do Stop opening new shops Invite inside with a card Total
45 20 8 8 2 1 84
53.6 23.8 9.5 9.5 2.4 1.2 100.0
Note: Some respondents reported multiple solutions.
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treating tourists like flies caught in a trap. We are likely to spend far more money if vendors are honest with their pricing and respect tourists’ ability to recognize a con artist. Allow us to shop in peace with fair pricing’’. A general feeling is that tourists want freedom to look around before being asked if any help is needed. The difference between cultures in Western and Eastern countries is emphasized in this case. While local shopkeepers see inviting tourists into their shops to buy something as a way to encourage business or help their customers, tourists from the West perceive this as being harassed, because in their culture the customer is expected to initiate shopping. Consistent with this, the majority commented that the solution to the problem was to allow the customers the freedom to make the first move. Taking legal actions was another solution proposed. The suggestion was that those involved in negative incidents with tourists may be fined or, as appropriate, charged with a crime and prosecuted. Since 2000, local government bodies (such as the governorship of Mugla Province) have recommended a number of measures to curtail harassment. According to this authority, the safety and security of tourists should be given very high priority. In conversation with the practitioners, officers, and shopkeepers, it was pointed out that there exists a regulation allowing for fines for harassment of customers. Shops can be closed for a specific period of time upon conviction of an offense. However, these measures have had no positive impact on dissuading some shopkeepers. There are also complaints by public officers working for the local administrative authorities that they have little power to control the situation. It seems clear that there would hardly have been any tourist complaints about harassment by vendors if the established measures had been welcomed and implemented in a positive manner. Finally, a few respondents complained about prices not being displayed with products: ‘‘We therefore do not trust the vendors and often leave without buying anything’’. Offering a pragmatic solution, one respondent said that harassment would be reduced by ‘‘better town planning such as controlling the number and size of hotels and restaurants so as to reduce competition and thus eliminate the need for hustlers’’. One comment was ‘‘stop opening any more shops in Marmaris. When I first came to Turkey, you could look in shops. Now if you look at anything they hassle’’. This provides a potential practical implication to be investigated further. Interestingly, the researcher’s personal observations indicate that some restaurants have already added a note at the top of their menus or billboards stating that, as part of their efforts to improve their image and marketing strategies, there is no harassment in their restaurants or shopping venues. It is obvious that both the supply and demand sides have become aware of this problem as well as its reasons and potential consequences.
CONCLUSION The purpose of this study was to understand whether foreign tourists visiting a destination might have harassment complaints and, if they
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did, what type of harassment they encountered and where, why, and how. Research findings from Marmaris, Turkey, confirmed that most harassment was by vendors and took place mainly on the street and on the beach. The least harassment occurred at hotel properties. A minority of respondents reported other types of harassment such as sexual, verbal and physical abuse, and peddling of drugs. These findings are also in accord with those of past research, indicating that vendors were the first group perceived to harass foreign tourists (de Albuquerque and McElroy 2001; McElroy 2001). Findings of this case study indicate that money is perceived as the primary reason to harass foreign tourists. Paying employees better is suggested by the respondents as a way to reduce money related harassment. This statement is congruent with the comment of Wallace (2003) on the need to improve the standard of locals’ quality of life in the case of Jamaica. These findings also broadly support the conclusion of de Albuquerque and McElroy that ‘‘harassment was simply viewed by vendors as attempts to make a living’’ (2001:490). The study also provides some empirical evidence to suggest that harassment has an impact on tourist behavior. Considerable differences in overall holiday satisfaction, word-of-mouth recommendation, and repeat visit intentions were observed between those reporting the absence and presence of harassment. Those harassed most were more likely to report lower satisfaction levels and repeat visit intentions than those with no experience of it at all. The results further suggest that the persistence of vendors had a consistent and strong negative effect on overall tourist satisfaction. These findings are similar to those of other studies on customer complaints previously undertaken by Kozak and Tasci (2005). There was a significant relationship between subjects with complaints about their vacations and their level of satisfaction, repeat visit, and recommendation intentions. Thus, refusing to deal with harassment will likely reduce tourists’overall satisfaction and future behavior. One should bear in mind that, as a result of domino effects, failures in one service attribute may engender service failures in other attributes (Halstead et al 1996), or alternatively one failure on an attribute may not be compensated with a success on another (Bettman, Luce and Payne 1998; Payne, Bettman and Johnson 1993). Thus, successful handling of harassment is critical to avoiding a spiral of increasing complaints. As opposed to the findings of the broader research by de Albuquerque and McElroy (2001), this case study provides no empirical evidence that significant differences occur for such variables as gender, age, and the type of holiday in terms of the overall perceived level of harassment. The former study points out that older tourists were less likely to be harassed because they stayed mostly at their hotels and did not venture out much at night, whereas younger ones experienced more harassment because they might have wanted to explore different hot spots. De Albuquerque and McElroy (2001) also note that female tourists experienced considerably greater sexual harassment than males. In addition, familiarity (repeaters versus first-timers) would also be a criterion to explain variances in harassment. Unfortunately, there
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is no evidence in the current smaller-scale study focused on British summer tourists to support the results discussed above. Such inconsistent results may warrant undertaking further empirical studies to see the situation in other tourist harassing countries and better undertand whether such results vary across tourism seasons and guest nationalities in the same destination as well as in different ones. This study provides the grounds to discuss some additional reasons for harassment that have not yet been considered extensively in the literature. In Turkey, the people residing in popular destinations have experienced social change particularly in the last two decades. Specifically, the majority have become wage earners and shopkeepers. Moreover, Turkey and some other Mediterranean countries are at different stages of developing their tourist industries. One may suggest that Turkey is perhaps at the stage where informal sectors, though declining, are still evident. There are still businesses run from temporary, makeshift premises, often selling food, drinks, clothing, and gifts on beaches and streets. These businesses are primary culprits in pestering tourists because of custom. Thus, the degree and type of harassment may also be a function of where the destination is along the lifecycle. As to the practical implications, harassment is a continuing problem without easy solutions. One step in the right direction would be to use the results of this study to widen the horizon for locals and service providers. Seminars that are open to the public and service providers should be set up to make them understand what they may lose if harassment is not appropriately managed. In cooperation with associations of vendors, training programs can be instigated to encourage friendly behavior and a desire to eliminate customer complaints. They should be able to reach the conclusion that, without losing their own cultural identity, it is in their best long-term economic interests to accommodate the cultural demands of foreign tourists. A further suggestion, which is more likely to be academically driven and considered as a long-term strategy, may include designing a special program and a pilot project for hospitality students interested in harassment that would enable them to spend at least part of their practicum studying this problem and making suggestions about how to minimize it. Such a program may provide the basis to achieve a socially and economically sustainable tourism development in the future. As the prospective employees for the future, those currently studying at tourism and hospitality schools should be taught to emphasize that this industry is important for the national economy and failing to address harassment compromises the contribution. To summarize, the consumer service literature contains few empirical studies of harassment involving those visiting a destination. Past studies largely point out what types of harassment occurs from a criminal perspective. Relatively little is known, other than in very general terms, about the effects of harassment on tourist behavior and about the economic impact of this problem. It is found that a fundamental driver of harassment is the vendors’ ambition to gain greater benefits from their business. From the theoretical point of view, the paper extends the traditional marketing research with specific reference to
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service marketing and consumer behavior in various ways. First, the existing literature is limited in the investigation of major types of harassment and offering practical implications. Thus, the marketing perspective of harassment needs broadening. Second, there is evidence that harassment has a negative influential impact on tourist behavior, including overall holiday quality and future plans. Finally, tourists are already aware of the reasons why they encounter harassment by vendors and, to a lesser degree, sexual harassment. They are able to express their own solutions to deal with harassment and feel these are reasonable and easy to implement. Interest in this field needs to grow from both theoretical and practical perspectives, to stimulate future research in order to come up with a better host-guest interaction particularly between culturally diverse tourist-receiving and touristgenerating countries. The study concludes by pointing to some of its limitations and suggesting avenues for further pursuit. First, although this differs from earlier research in terms of the methodology followed and the findings obtained, it only investigates tourists’ perceptions of harassment. However, it would be interesting to survey vendors or service providers as to their reasons and solutions for harassment for a possible comparison between supply and demand sides. Second, the amount of money spent for shopping or other daily activities may have a determining effect on harassment and should be investigated. Third, the discussion is limited only to a relatively small sample size drawn from British tourists in the summer season. Future studies that employ samples from different origins and across different seasons will enhance the generalizability of the results. For example, the study by de Albuquerque and McElroy (2001) confirmed that tourists from different nationalities are exposed to different types and degrees of harassment. This issue should be addressed in future studies. Acknowledgements—The author thanks Jay Beaman of Auctor Associates Ltd for his valuable comments and discussions on this topic. The assistance of Elif Capkunoglu in coding the data is also gratefully acknowledged.
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Nyagah, R. 2004 Agents Seek End to Harassment of Tourists
Submitted 22 January 2006. Resubmitted 1 June 2006. Resubmitted 2 August 2006. Final version 30 August 2006. Accepted 18 September 2006. Refereed anonymously. Coordinating Editor: Jerome L. McElroy