Rape is not good for tourism

Crime is not good for tourism. Travelers, especially women, are canceling trips to India, in the wake of a brutal gang rape and death of a young college student on a public bus. And now there are worries about the safety of tourists in Brazil, where a woman tourist was gang raped in Rio.

Rape, especially gang rape, is not good for tourism. When a young female college student is gang raped on a public bus and thrown off the bus to die in the gutter, it is not good for tourism to India. When a woman is gang raped in front of her boyfriend who is tied up and forced to watch the six-hour ordeal, it is not good for tourism to Brazil.

The horrifying assault in India in December 2012 made international headlines, and galvanized women to organize and protest in cities throughout India. Now, the Wall St. Journal reports that tourism to India is down 25% and tour operators surveyed say women, mostly from Western countries, are cancelling trips to India in alarming numbers. India is an expensive “bucket list” trip for most of us, so forfeiting a hefty down-payment because of personal security concerns is major. Tourism is a $17 Billion business in India.

It’s bad enough that both the US government and the British government have issued travel advisories to women tourists in India.

Now, we hear about the American woman assaulted in Rio de Janeiro, who reportedly was kidnapped with her boyfriend aboard a public bus, both beaten, and dumped by the side of the road by the hoodlums. Even though these hoodlums were arrested pretty quickly, there are now concerns about the safety of visitors to next year’s World Cup in Rio, and the 2016 Summer Olympics. Not to mention the two million young visitors expected to crowd Rio in July 2013 for World Youth Day, the Roman Catholic pilgrimage that Pope Francis is scheduled to attend.