Speeches & Op-Eds
Safety and Security in a Tourism Environment
January 13, 2006
Ms. Walkine, Thank you for that kind introduction and please allow me to thank you and the Ministry of Tourism for organizing this conference today I am pleased to be here today to continue the fruitful discussions that we had at the Workshop on Visitor Safety this past September These are vitally important issues that deserve and clearly are receiving serious attention, and I believe it sends an important signal that you have set aside time at your annual tourism conference to focus specifically on safety and security issues as they relate to tourism.
In my presentation this morning, I would like to briefly outline the interests and the role of the U.S. Embassy on matters of visitor safety and security I would also like to discuss the resources we can bring to the table to support enhanced visitor safety Working together with concerned stakeholders, we are already doing a great deal to advance our shared goal of safe and secure tourism, and I believe there is much more that can yet be done.
Our Embassy has no higher priority than that of protecting the welfare of American citizens abroad Over four million Americans come to The Bahamas each year as tourists Happily, the overwhelming majority of them have safe, enjoyable vacations They take in the beautiful sights, sounds, and tastes of the islands and return safely to their homes in the United States.
Another 30,000 Americans are present in The Bahamas as permanent residents or extended-stay visitors -- a group that is often overlooked In addition, the Embassy itself has several hundred Americans on our staff -- individuals and families that live and work in The Bahamas year round We, too, are members of your community, and we therefore take a great interest in the overall security climate in The Bahamas beyond its specific impact on tourists
But tourists, present for only a short time in an environment that for them can be new and unfamiliar, give rise to distinctive safety challenges.
The Embassy's strategy to promote visitor safety consists of three elements: First, to prevent criminal acts from occurring; second, to provide assistance to victims; and third, to see that complaints are thoroughly investigated and prosecuted
First, prevention: More and more travelers are carefully investigating the safety and security of travel destinations before making their vacation plans This interest offers a valuable opportunity to inform visitors about local conditions and to encourage responsible behavior on their part that can reduce their vulnerabilities and help prevent crime
To meet this demand for information, every U.S. Embassy puts out an information sheet on the security situation in their host country These sheets describe the local environment and provide suggestions for how tourists can avoid problems We are finding that these reports are generating ever-greater attention from potential visitors, travel professionals and the press They represent an important part of our prevention efforts
The Embassy also releases an annual Spring Break Fact Sheet that specifically targets student visitors We urge students to drink responsibly, to stay in groups, and to know the local environment: for example how to recognize a licensed taxi cab Our Consular Section also works with the Ministry of Tourism and local tour operators to ensure that visiting Americans receive reliable and relevant safety and security information In addition, one of our Consular Officers gives a safety/security briefing to arriving student tour groups We've been able to reach thousands of students this way and will continue this initiative in the coming spring break season.
Whatever the time of year, however, the more quality information we can get to visitors and the earlier we can get it to them, the more likely it will be that we can help prevent problems and that visitors will stay out of trouble
The Royal Bahamas Police Force is an outstanding partner in this effort We rely on their knowledge of the local scene to help us spot emerging trends and shape our message We greatly appreciate the special efforts they make to increase patrols and expand surveillance in areas frequented by tourists Their visible presence deters countless would-be criminals and helps to keep visitors safe from harm
Second, Victims' Assistance: The second part of our strategy is victims' assistance The sheer number of visitors The Bahamas hosts each year makes it all but inevitable that some number of them will be victims of crime We must acknowledge that reality so that we are properly mobilized to provide assistance to victims The Embassy has a special responsibility toward American visitors, one that we attempt to carry out with tact and sensitivity.
When we see travelers, they are usually having a problem They may have been robbed or been the victim of a violent crime or a sexual assault While this group is a minority among visitors, it is an important minority of people who most need our help.
If a crime occurs, our top priority is to get immediate assistance to the victim, particularly in the case of a sexual assault The Embassy has a Duty Officer on call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week The Duty Officer is our first responder to an after-hours emergency He or she arrives on the scene in person as quickly as possible in order to provide emotional support to the victim and to help them regain control over their environment and help them make contact with relatives or friends in the United States
The Embassy's Consular Officers are trained in victims' assistance They help ensure victims receive appropriate medical care, they interact with concerned family members in the U.S., and they help victims understand the local legal process We also link American victims with counseling and other programs in the U.S.
This type of assistance is vitally important on sexual assault cases, which require the utmost sensitivity to help victims begin to work through their physical and emotional injuries, and we are currently working with the Ministries of Health and Tourism as well as the Police to bring an innovative new program to the Bahamas under the aegis of UCLA The UCLA Rape Crisis Center provides training for counselors, police officers, and doctors and nurses, so that they are fully prepared to respond to the special needs of sexual assault victims We are currently coordinating with the Government of the Bahamas to bring UCLA personnel here this year to conduct cooperative workshops with the police, the Women's Crisis Center, and others.
Provision of Justice:
The third part of our visitor safety strategy is to ensure that justice is swiftly provided when a crime does occur While we all want to see fewer crimes committed, it is equally important to see that those crimes that are committed are expeditiously and successfully prosecuted The Embassy stands ready to act as a liaison with the police, calming and protecting the victim so that all the necessary statements and evidence can be gathered Because victims are in an unfamiliar environment, both they and other American witnesses tend to be comforted once an Embassy officer becomes involved, which, in turn, allows the investigation to proceed more smoothly.
To support Bahamian prosecutorial efforts, the Embassy -- particularly our security office and our FBI representative -- make resources and training available to Bahamian law enforcement officials as appropriate, to support them in their important work In 2005 the Embassy provided over 2.3 million dollars worth of training to more than 500 hundred Bahamian officials That total included courses on basic crime scene investigation and sexual assault investigations We're working on similar courses for this year as well
It may seem odd to talk about prosecutions in the context of visitor safety, but ensuring that justice is done is a vital part of protecting the good tourism "brand name" of The Bahamas One of the reasons that the Natalee Holloway case in Aruba sparked such outcry -- and I look forward to hearing Mr. Duda's case study on this -- was that the crime was not solved and the authorities did not seem to have taken the appropriate investigatory steps in the immediate aftermath of the disappearance By contrast, when two Austrian tourists were murdered in Bimini last summer, the results were far different In that instance, the culprit was found and apprehended within days The grieving families received a sense of closure and any possible controversy was defused.
Tourists understand and accept that crime can happen in any foreign country, just as it can happen in the United States But a crime can turn into a crisis if nothing is done about it By working together with our colleagues in Bahamian law enforcement, we hope to build capacity and thereby increase the chances that when a crime does occur, the guilty party is justly and swiftly punished
The Embassy will continue to do everything it can to promote the safety of American visitors to The Bahamas Doing so is a vital part of our mission We believe that a cooperative strategy focusing on prevention, victims' assistance, and prosecution, is the best way for us to work together to ensure that The Bahamas continues to be known as a safe and friendly destination for American and other visitors to your always beautiful shores.