International Students’ Perception of Risk and Safety when Travelling : Case Study on students of Dalarna University, Borlange, Sweden

Sammanfattning: International students are becoming a more and more attractive group for tourism agencies, and for those responsible for regional development, some study is warranted to explore how one may effectively recognize their preferences, wants, needs, and constraints to draw their attention towards the destination or to experience tourism firm’s offerings specially in this research about their perception about risk, safety and security during their travelling. Perception of risk, safety and security of a tourist destination may create a broader platform of preferences, and associated constraints. Perceived risk is defined as a consumer’s perception of the overall negativity of a course of action based upon an assessment of the possible negative outcomes and the likelihood that those outcomes will occur. Tourism, exclusively international tourism, is highly delicate to safety and security issues. It is one of the enterprise most exposed to changes in the world stage that may produce alteration in tourist behavior. A clearer perceptive of the traveler’s decision-making process and the role of intervening variables are compulsory, notably respecting travel inhibitors, such as risk perception, to assist develop enhanced destination development or recovery strategies. Constructing conditions for tourists to feel safe before and during the trip may be demanding to the success of a destination competing internationally. The current study attempts to fill a gap by exploring risk perceptions of individual international students who engaged in tourism and try to explore the concerned safety measure among them. The findings revealed that the most common risk perception and endeavors were transportation, fraudulent behavior of locals towards tourists, losing valuables, health issues and sexual harassment. However, the international students with experience with travelling themselves gave the safety and security precautions needed to minimize these risks. The safety and security features involve avoiding informal sectors, taking care of personal belongings, being always cautious about the situation happening around, educating themselves about the destination they are visiting, proper health care and proper authority to report any mishaps. After this research it could be understood that international student tourist is concerned about their safety and they would improve the situation of risk they perceive if given the chance to.