Tourists in Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Hotels in Geneva are increasing the pressure on the government to improve security for visitors to the city, in the wake of accusations by the consul general of Saudi Arabia that police did not do enough when a Saudi citizen was seriously injured and robbed in what the man’s lawyer says was an attack in the city centre, according to news agency ATS.
Paul Muller, head of the Société des hôteliers de Genève and director of the Manotel group, told Le Temps in an interview that he wants to see the city put more police on the streets and that, like other hotel-keepers, he hired more additional security guards during the Fêtes de Genève for the entrance to and area around the hotel. For Muller, the number of incidents of tourists being tricked out of their money has been on the rise and the number of attacks on tourists is also up.
His remarks follow an 11 August meeting of shopkeepers and other businesses in the city centre where feelings ran high, reports the Tribune de Geneve, over the need for more police help in combatting begging and petty theft, with a sense that the crimes are becoming more frequent and more aggressive.
Related: OSAC (US Overseas Security Advisory Council) Switzerland 2009 Crime & Safety Report, based on 2007 statistics
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News story, GenevaLunch, 13 August 2009.
Filed under: Business
Tags: begging, crime, Geneva, Geneva news, hotels, Le Temps, Paul Muller, petty theft, Society, Switzerland, Travel & Tourism, Tribune de Geneve