“Make sure all of your valuables are on the front of your body.”
“Get a fanny pack, crossbody bag, or just keep everything in your front pockets.”
Those are some of the comments from Reddit users on ways to stay safe in Las Vegas. These comments offer a narrative about Las Vegas that tourists may consider factual information when planning a trip.
Linda Dam, an assistant professor of journalism and media studies, and Rebecca Rice, an assistant professor of communication studies, scoured the social media platform Reddit for the questions and advice incoming tourists were seeking about Las Vegas.
Their analysis of concerns and fears is part of research programs of the Tourist Safety Institute in the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs.
“Reddit is often a place people go to seek what they think of as authentic information or ‘real’ information,” Rice said. “People really enjoy talking to each other in a more casual environment. Oftentimes I hear from younger generations in particular that if they want a 'real' answer to something, they don't go to Google; they go to Reddit because it’s going to show them what real people think of a product or a problem.”
The project analyzed over 200 posts from subcommunities where people can talk about their shared interests. Dam and Rice looked at the subreddit threads r/Vegas and r/LasVegas from Feb. 15, 2023 to Feb 15, 2024.
The posts they analyzed included the key terms “safe,” “dangerous,” and “sketchy” to consider how people may be weighing the safety of the town.
Their preliminary results described unpredictable people as people who act irrationally and can hurt tourists as a result, often specifically referencing homeless people or people on drugs. It describes random violence in tourist areas as shootings or stabbings get a lot of media attention, and people who try to take advantage of tourists largely describing scammers.
Many of the responses advised that Las Vegas, and particularly the Las Vegas Strip, are very safe for tourists. However, commenters did indicate areas to avoid.
According to Reddit, perceived threats do not line up with the actual most prevalent safety concerns happening in Southern Nevada. Threats like extreme heat, flooding, and human trafficking were very rare or nonexistent in the analyzed posts, according to Rice.
“I was surprised not to see more mention of climate hazards,” Rice said.
Southern Nevada is known for summer heat waves and rising temperatures but Rice said commenters don’t ask about hydration or sun protection tips.
“It was a good example of one problem that researchers face in communicating risks all the time,” Rice said, “which is that risks that people perceive to be the most dangerous to them are often not the risks that are truly the most dangerous to them.”
This research is important to tourist safety, Rice said, because it is valuable information for economists, public safety officials, policymakers, and marketing individuals. The research can be used to improve public awareness about the safety concerns people are talking about, creating compelling campaigns about weather and environmental preparedness, debunking the myths, and engaging in social media to address concerns.
About the UNLV Tourist Safety Institute
The Tourist Safety Institute works with faculty across UNLV, local, state, and federal authorities, and community stakeholders to develop community resilience solutions and policies that enhance the safety and well-being of Nevada’s tourists and citizens, and the tourism industry as a whole. The institute draws upon the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs’ research expertise in crime science, trauma-informed care, crisis communication, policymaking, conflict resolution, and crowd management.
