1. ^aCommunity Justice Research Centre, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK
2. ^bDepartment of Social and Communication Studies, University of Chester, Chester, UK

Correspondence: R.I. Mawby, Community Justice Research Centre, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK. E-mail: R.Mawby@plymouth.ac.uk

Abstract

This paper¹ describes a Home Office-funded evaluation of a burglary initiative in Sunnybay² that aimed to reduce hotel burglary. The research was originally designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme, but when it became clear that it was not being fully implemented, the evaluation focused instead on the reasons for implementation failure. Research strategies included use of police crime statistics, structured interviews with samples of hoteliers in Sunnybay and a control area, and semi-structured interviews with key players. The research concluded that hotel burglary was indeed a significant problem in Sunnybay, although it was not necessarily recognized as such by either the hotel industry or the tourist industry in general. Implementation failure is discussed in the context of multi-agency and partnership working and the uneasy relationship between the crime and disorder and tourism industries. The paper concludes with a series of recommendations on how future policies might be better designed and implemented.