Tourists given advice on crime

A new guide warning tourists to be on their guard while visiting Ireland will be published today.

Produced by the Garda in conjunction with the Tourist Victim Support Service, the guide - in leaflet and credit-card sized card form - comes in response to research carried out by the Tourism Research Centre, which found 66 per cent of tourists felt they should have been given advice on crime and safety upon arriving here.

The guide will be launched by the Minister for Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue.

Ms Lisa Kennedy, co-ordinator of the support service, said the Safety Tips for Tourists guide, would be available from this weekend at all airports, ferry ports, car hire outlets and Garda stations. "It contains practical advice for tourists on the care of belongings, personal safety and car security," she said.

She said most of it was common-sense advice applicable to anyone interested in personal safety, though there were also tips invaluable to foreign visitors, such as the fact that there is no legal requirement to carry one's passport or ID.

The guide is published in English, French, Italian and Spanish.

The majority of tourists whom the service helped had been victims of larcenies, said Ms Kennedy, and though few had experienced actual violence, there were instances of people being held at knife-point or syringe-point.

"For most there is not a huge monetary loss but there's a big inconvenience. A lot come whose hired-car or own car has been broken into and everything is taken - tickets, passports, luggage. We'd advise them not to go out with large amounts of money or valuable jewellery and to always park in supervised car parks."

Stressing there was not an inordinate amount of crime against tourists here, Ms Kennedy said that of the five to six million people who came on holiday here annually, about 3,000 experienced crime "and of those we help, 96 per cent said they would still recommend Ireland as a holiday destination".

More than 80 per cent also decided to continue with their holiday after their experiences.