Should destination message mention safety?

The benefits of any tourist destination may be overshadowed when it is perceived to be unsafe. The question is whether communicating safety as part of destination branding impact tourist travel intentions. In our study, we draw on categorization and omissions bias theories to explore how the incorporation of safety messages into destination advertising may influence tourist willingness to travel to a place. Using an experimental design, we found that the effectiveness of safety messages depends on tourist’s risk propensity. Low-risk propensity respondents find a place more attractive when safety messages are not mentioned, while the opposite is true for high-risk propensity respondents. We conclude that travelers’ risk propensity needs to be considered when communicating destination safety.