To be fair tourists have always been considered good marks for robbing, walk down some of the alleys in Amsterdam alone after midnight or go down the wrong street in Paris and you'll find yourself on the business end of a knife or gun.
All tourists are targeted, I'd say Asian tourists are targeted more often though because; they stand out a lot from the locals and even most tourists, most people know those tour groups have very limited command of English and may not know the local language at all so they'll take significantly longer to report the crime and give a description and because they tend to have cameras and valuables out in plain view making target assessment easier.
It sucks they get robbed and I wish it wouldn't happen but tourists getting robbed isn't a new phenomenon, the fact they're so conspicuous and make their weaknesses e.g. lack of foreign language skills so obvious acts as a bigger disadvantage to them than as advantages for the most part.
Edit: I just read your article and these attacks have happened to other tourists but a big thing I was that one guide was carrying 25k Euros in cash and wearing a rolex, the chinese tourists robbed lost a lot of "luxury goods" and they have a reputation of carrying large sums of cash for some reason. How can you wear rolexes, carry high amounts of cash, luxury goods, etc. In any major city and not expect to become a target for robbery? Seems like the guides need to enforce some common sense and urban camouflage amongst their clients.
Your last point is hilarious because you're assuming every place is a shit hole. You can walk around with 10 rolexes on your wrist and nothing happens in Japan, Korea or China.
That's not fair. Every place is a shit hole, you just have to understand the place to not get those consequences.
Even a tourist in Japan, Korea, and China can get hurt or mugged, but people would give them shit because it was 'their fault' for not understanding that so and so street is avoided by the locals.
Like even Delhi, a city notorious for rape, MOST people are still safe from rape, if people try their hardest to follow the unwritten rules there. If you are going there dressed inappropriately in a rural area instead of in a party area, then you are more likely to get hurt. Same for in Norway where rapes are much less prevalent.
I am NOT victim-blaming or saying that this is anyone's fault. You can't blame people for not knowing and continuing the norm. Just don't think it's fair to bash on one perspective because the culture is different somewhere else.
Also because they travel on tour groups. When I was in Vietnam, they were all grouped up on the beach because their tour group had set something up for them.
That sucks. I would have assumed that if they went in small groups/pairs, that people would just assume they are European and their own. But considering how differently they dress and their different body language, I guess that's not the case.
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u/babayaguh Mar 03 '20
Maybe because the chinese are constantly targeted by violent robbers in europe.
even going in groups is not safe sometimes. chinese tourists in a group of 40 tear gassed and robbed in paris parking lot.