Institutional economics of tourism safety and security: Insights from tourists and industry operators

Abstract

The study analyzes how domestic and foreign tourists and tour operators perceive safety and security facilities while adopting an institutional economic approach. Every security system in the tourism industry meets requirements set by both formal rules from law enforcement and regulatory frameworks and informal rules based on trust and social norms. The analysis focuses on evaluating primary safety measures that involve police protection and physical accommodation accessibility and emergency setups among other fundamental elements like supervisor training and security instructions as well as bag safety and family defense system and parking system and staff medical equipment. The research obtained its data primarily from 320 domestic tourists alongside 80 foreign tourists and 50 tour operators who inhabited major tourist sites in Karnataka through a stratified sampling methodology. A specific questionnaire gathered data to assess how successfully safety facilities were both available and functional. Researchers applied Chi-square technique to explore how demographic traits (age, gender, marital status) influence measurements of safety and security perceptions. Statistical data validates that demographic variables link to tourist observations about safety infrastructure. The analysis used factor analysis to group security and safety elements under three categories that included institutional safety measures and safety aids and family unit security. ANOVA analysis revealed that both tourists and tour operators do not differ in their satisfaction ratings regarding institutional safety measures. The study demonstrates how institutional structures determine how people perceive safety levels and affect tourism sector performance regarding economic expansion. Tourism sustainability depends heavily on strong institutional governance and firm regulatory monitoring as well as trustworthy security measures in order to protect destination safety. The research delivers guidelines which suggest improvements to safety protocols to enhance institutional defense capabilities which will boost tourism economic value as the main growth source.