Government wants to make tourists feel safer

Joan Collins THE Secretary General for Tourism, Raimon Martinez Fraile, has said that two of the Spanish Ministries want studies done on tourist areas, among them the Balearics, with a view to increasing security in those areas. He was referring to the Ministry for Industry, Tourism and Commerce and the Ministry for the Interior. These two Ministries, in collaboration, want to “increase” policing and have security studies done in tourist areas. The point of this exercise is to try to promote greater security in those places where there are large numbers of tourists, and therefore where there are also greater amounts of crime, among them the Balearics. In this respect, Martinez Fraile explained that the objective is to “avoid the great feeling of insecurity which a lot of tourist areas suffer from”. The Secretary General for Tourism said that “seeing” police officers of all levels is the ”most effective” weapon. In this respect, he mentioned the “dance of the police forces” which has taken place over the last few years because of “tourist movements”. He also highlighted the importance of coordinating not just the national security forces but also the local police forces. Martinez Fraile also said it was important to “look after tourists”, both national as well as foreign, and to be ready to help them in both national and local police stations when a crime has been committed against them. The Secretary General for Tourism also explained that studies will be done in tourist areas so that the Ministries will have a better knowledge of which areas have a higher concentration of tourists and can therefore take the appropriate action. With this in mind he made the point that “even thieves do their market research before making their decisions as to where is the best place to go for their trade” and they therefore gather in places where there are a great many tourists.