What tourists worry about – Construction of a scale measuring tourist worries

This paper explores the concept of tourist worry. Responses from two separate student samples (n = 462, and n = 314) and one sample of tourists (n = 1880) from 48 countries were used to develop the scale, and to test its reliability and validity. Results indicate that the Tourist Worry Scale (TWS) draws its variance from sources different from that of generalized worry as measured by the Penn State Worry Questionnaire. Moderate correlations between the TWS and various indicators of risk judgements and travel preferences were observed. The reliability and validity of the instrument was found to be satisfactory. Results also showed that tourists in general worry less than “potential tourists” do. Tourists worry mostly about petty crime and other crimes and accidents.