Dr. Peter Tarlow urges travelers and tourism professionals to make situational awareness part of every journey
Travelers should enjoy their journeys without leaving common sense at home, according to the latest advice from tourism safety and security expert Dr. Peter Tarlow in Tourism Tidbits . His central message is straightforward: travel creates unfamiliar situations, and stress, distraction and overconfidence can make visitors easier targets for theft, scams and other risks.
Tarlow advises travelers to prepare for delays, protect passports, wallets and payment information, use authorized transportation, remain alert to distraction techniques, respect local laws and customs, and take natural hazards seriously. For tourism professionals, the challenge is equally important: communicate risks without frightening visitors.
Recent cases—from distraction theft targeting tourists in Europe to visitors damaging historic monuments and continuing drowning incidents in Hawai‘i—underline the same principle: safe travel requires awareness, preparation and respect for the destination.
Travel is rewarding—but unfamiliarity creates risk
Travel can broaden our horizons, introduce us to societies different from our own and allow us to experience places we previously knew only through books, photographs or screens. It can even change how we see ourselves by allowing us to experience life temporarily through another culture.
Yet travel also removes people from familiar routines.
We navigate unfamiliar streets, transportation systems, currencies, languages, customs and natural environments. We may be tired, distracted, excited or in a hurry. That combination can make even experienced travelers more vulnerable.
This is at the heart of Tarlow’s latest Tourism Tidbits advice on avoiding becoming a victim while traveling: enjoy the destination, but do not leave common sense at home.
The lesson is equally important for tourism professionals. Safety and security should not be communicated in ways that frighten visitors. Instead, destinations, hotels, attractions, tour operators and transportation providers should help travelers develop what might be called relaxed awareness : the ability to enjoy a place while remaining conscious of one’s surroundings.
Tourism safety begins before something goes wrong
Tarlow has long argued that tourism security is broader than policing. His Tourism SURETY approach connects security and safety with reputation, ecology and economics.
That distinction matters.
A stolen passport is a security problem for the traveler. A series of highly publicized thefts can become a reputation problem for a destination. An unsafe beach is a physical hazard, but repeated visitor fatalities can also become a tourism-management issue. Likewise, disrespectful visitor behavior can transform tourism from something welcomed by residents into a source of resentment.
Good tourism security therefore protects both sides of the visitor-host relationship.
Stress is one of the traveler’s hidden vulnerabilities
Travel is often marketed as relaxation, but getting there can be anything but relaxing.
Delayed flights, unfamiliar airports, missed connections, luggage problems, language barriers and changes in plans increase cognitive load. A traveler trying to locate a platform while answering a message and watching several pieces of luggage is not paying full attention to any one of them.
Criminals can exploit precisely these moments.
Official travel advice continues to warn about distraction theft. Pickpockets and thieves may work in teams: one person attracts the traveler’s attention while another takes a telephone, wallet, passport or bag.
The practical lesson is simple: when something suddenly demands your attention, remember your belongings.
If someone bumps into you, spills something on you, urgently asks a question or tells you something is wrong with your luggage or vehicle, the situation may be completely innocent. But before becoming absorbed in helping or responding, secure your phone, wallet, passport and bags.
Travelers should also avoid keeping every important item together. Losing one wallet should not mean simultaneously losing all cash, every credit card and identification.
The experienced traveler can also become the complacent traveler
One of the paradoxes of tourism is that familiarity can create vulnerability.
After several trouble-free trips, travelers may begin to assume that nothing will happen because nothing has happened before. They leave a telephone on a café table, place a handbag over the back of a chair or carry a wallet in an easily accessible pocket.
This is especially relevant in crowded tourism environments such as public transportation, railway stations, attractions, markets and entertainment districts.
The objective is not to become suspicious of everyone around you. Most encounters travelers have will be legitimate and often exceptionally kind.
The objective is simply not to make yourself the easiest target.
Distraction remains one of the oldest—and most effective—tools
Consider a classic road scam.
A traveler is driving a rental car when someone signals that there is something wrong with a tire. The traveler stops. One person enthusiastically offers assistance while another approaches the vehicle from the opposite side and removes a bag.
Variants of this technique have been documented in European tourist destinations, including incidents in which motorists were distracted by an apparent vehicle problem while valuables were stolen.
The modern version of Tarlow’s advice is not “trust nobody.”
It is verify before trusting.
If someone claims your vehicle has a problem, move to a well-lit service station or another secure public location when it is safe to do so. Keep the vehicle locked and valuables controlled. Use the rental company’s or insurer’s official roadside-assistance service rather than automatically accepting unsolicited assistance.
Transportation deserves special attention
Arriving in an unfamiliar city can be one of the traveler’s most vulnerable moments.
The visitor may be jet-lagged, unfamiliar with the currency and unsure what transportation should cost. This is exactly when travelers should resist making hurried decisions.
Use officially licensed taxis, established transportation companies or recognized booking services. Confirm the approximate fare or understand how the meter operates before departing.
Hotels and destination organizations can make an enormous difference here. Instead of merely saying “be careful,” provide actionable information:
Where is the official taxi rank? What should a normal airport transfer cost? Which transit ticket does a visitor need? What does a legitimate taxi look like? What emergency number should visitors save?
Useful information reduces both anxiety and opportunity for fraud.
Respecting a destination is also part of tourism security
Visitor safety is only half the equation. Visitors themselves have responsibilities toward the places they visit.
The problem became dramatically visible at Rome’s Colosseum in 2023 when a tourist was filmed carving names into the ancient monument. Another tourist was investigated the following year after allegedly marking an ancient wall at Herculaneum.
Such incidents illustrate an important tourism principle:
Being on vacation does not mean being outside society.
A destination is not a theme park constructed for the visitor. Historic buildings are not movie sets. Religious sites are not merely backgrounds for social-media photographs. Neighborhoods are places where people live.
Good visitors ask themselves not only, “Is this safe for me?” but also, “Is my behavior respectful to the people and place hosting me?”
Nature does not become safer because we are on vacation
Perhaps nowhere is the gap between perception and reality more important than in natural environments.
A beautiful ocean can still contain powerful currents. A picturesque mountain can experience sudden weather changes. Desert heat does not become less dangerous because the visitor has only three days available for sightseeing.
Hawai‘i provides a particularly important example.
Tarlow points to drownings in Hawai‘i as an example of visitors underestimating nature. Hawai‘i’s Water Safety Plan provides a sobering context: official state data show that visitors account for a substantial share of drowning fatalities and are disproportionately represented among snorkeling deaths.
The statistics reinforce something every destination should consider:
Unfamiliarity itself can be a risk factor.
Residents learn to interpret local conditions over years. Visitors may see sunshine and relatively calm-looking water and conclude that conditions are safe. They may not recognize currents, changing surf conditions or other local hazards.
The practical rule is straightforward: use lifeguarded beaches where possible, obey warning signs, ask local professionals about conditions and never assume that swimming experience somewhere else automatically transfers to an unfamiliar environment.
The same principle applies to mountains, deserts, snow, wildlife and extreme heat.
Technology has changed travel—but not human vulnerability
Modern travelers have advantages previous generations could scarcely imagine. Smartphones provide navigation, translation, transportation booking, emergency communication and instant access to information.
But the phone has also created new vulnerabilities.
A traveler staring at a navigation screen advertises that he or she may be unfamiliar with the surroundings. Phones placed on restaurant tables are easily accessible. Public conversations can unintentionally reveal hotel names, room numbers or travel plans. Travelers can also expose PINs and passwords when using ATMs or devices in crowded locations.
Technology should therefore support situational awareness rather than replace it.
Before leaving a hotel, download the route. Save the hotel’s address. Keep emergency contacts available offline. Protect devices with authentication. Avoid openly displaying financial information. When entering a PIN, shield the keypad.
Most importantly, look up occasionally.
Blending in does not mean hiding
Traditional travel-security advice often tells visitors to “blend in.” That remains useful, but it should not be interpreted literally.
A visitor will often look like a visitor, and there is nothing wrong with that.
The better objective is to avoid unnecessarily advertising vulnerability.
Know roughly where you are going before leaving your hotel. Avoid standing in the middle of a busy sidewalk studying a map. Carry expensive cameras discreetly when they are not being used. Do not publicly count large amounts of cash. Keep bags closed and under your control.
The goal is not disguise. It is confidence and preparation.
What can tourism businesses do?
Tourism professionals should translate these principles into practical visitor care.
A hotel receptionist can point out the official taxi rank. A tour operator can explain local weather hazards before an excursion. An attraction can make behavioral expectations clear before visitors enter. A destination can provide multilingual emergency information. Tourism-oriented police and security personnel can combine enforcement with visitor assistance.
The best safety communication is specific, calm, and useful.
Compare these two approaches: “Tourists are frequently robbed here. Be careful.”
versus: “This area becomes crowded after 6 p.m. Keep your phone and wallet in a closed pocket or zipped bag, and use the official taxi rank beside the station.”
The second message informs without frightening. That should be the objective of modern tourism security.
Nine rules travelers can remember
1. Know where you are going.Check the route and approximate transportation cost before departing.
2. Separate valuables.Do not keep every card, all cash and identification in the same place.
3. Control your belongings.In crowded environments, keep phones, wallets and bags physically secure.
4. Pause when distracted.An unexpected interruption is precisely when awareness matters most.
5. Use authorized services.Choose licensed transportation and reputable tour and activity providers.
6. Respect warnings.A red flag, closed trail, barrier or security instruction exists for a reason.
7. Respect the host community.Learn basic local rules, customs and expectations.
8. Have a Plan B.Keep essential telephone numbers, backup payment options, medication, water where appropriate, and copies of important documents accessible.
9. Know how to get help.Learn the local emergency number and know whom to contact if a passport, bank card or telephone is lost or stolen.
Awareness should increase freedom, not fear
Perhaps the most important lesson from Dr. Peter Tarlow’s advice is that security should enable tourism rather than diminish it.
The answer to travel risk is not to stay home, distrust strangers or spend a vacation constantly looking over one’s shoulder. Travel remains one of the great ways to learn about the world and ourselves.
The better approach is to combine curiosity with common sense.
- Relax—but remain aware.
- Trust—but verify when money, transportation or personal security is involved.
- Explore—but respect barriers and local conditions.
- Enjoy nature—but never assume that nature knows you are on vacation.
And remember that responsible travel means protecting not only yourself and your companions, but also the communities, cultures and environments that make travel worthwhile.
A successful journey should leave the traveler richer in memories and the destination richer for having welcomed the traveler.
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