Rise in violent crime against tourists

THE incidence of violent crime against tourists increased slightly to 357 last year, according to a report published yesterday.

The 357 cases of tourist crime reported to the Tourist Victim Support Service (TVSS) in 2003 involved 627 tourists.

The TVSS report shows that 68% of crimes occurred in Dublin. Outside Dublin, Wicklow, Galway, Cork and Kerry accounted for the bulk of referrals.

The report said theft from the person was the main type of crime against visitors to Ireland in 2003.

While last year saw a marginal increase in attacks on 2002, the TVSS pointed out that violence against tourists was "very rare".

A breakdown of the 2003 figures show:

There were 188 cases of larceny 53% of the total.

There were 63 cases of theft from a car - 18% of the total.

The bulk of car thefts (76%) involved hired cars, with the rest (14%) involving privately-owned cars.

The report pointed out that 56% of tourists assisted in 2003 were female, and 44% were male. The report said this was consistent with previous years.

It said younger age groups, 17-25 and 26-35, made up the majority of referrals.

The figures show that for the second year running, American visitors were the main nationality referred standing at 20%.

British visitors, who have been the main nationality referred to the service in the past, accounted for 12% of the overall figure, followed closely by Italian and German visitors at 11%.

"Tourism Victim Support is a comprehensive service offered to victimised tourists," said Lisa Kennedy, co-ordinator of the service.

"The aim of the service is to minimise the impact of the crime thus enabling tourists to continue with their holiday plans."

She said 88% of tourists were last year able to continue their holidays after TVSS assistance.

"The aim for 2004, the service's 10 year anniversary, is to further promote TVSS among visitors and the tourism industry to ensure that any tourist that requires assistance can rely on the service for support."

Ms Kennedy said the service provided emotional and practical support with the aid of a team of trained volunteers fluent in many languages.

She said that through the assistance of the tourist and other industries, the TVSS can arrange accommodation and meals, liaise with embassies, help replace stolen travel tickets, organise financial assistance, arrange transport for stranded tourists, assist with language difficulties and address any medical needs.