• Full Story

Move to calm tourists after hitchhiker attack

Email
Print

Move to calm tourists after hitchhiker attack

3News NZ

Tauranga mayor Stuart Crosby says it is normally a very safe region

Tauranga mayor Stuart Crosby says it is normally a very safe region

Tauranga's mayor is reassuring tourists that it is safe to travel through the area after two French tourists were beaten up and robbed.

The hitchhikers were picked up heading south from Mt Maunganui and dumped at an abandoned petrol station.

They were left with no money or passports.

Tauranga mayor Stuart Crosby says it is normally a very safe region.

“I think it would be very rare to be honest,” he says.

“If you look at the proportion of visitors that visit New Zealand, I think we are recognised generally as a very safe place to travel. I’d describe this as certainly not the norm, that’s for sure.”

The French tourists are now staying in Tauranga and arranging money and replacement passports from France.

RadioLIVE

Post a Comment

Before commenting, please take the time to read our moderation guide


(Won't be published)



Comments

29/07/2012 6:28:22 p.m.

brian wrote:

I agree totally with ROSS

8/07/2012 5:55:14 p.m.

dont bother wrote:

Yeah course its safe, and we are also 100% Pure and clean and green. Better not mention the guy who got robbed near matata just a couple of days earlier. Tourists are being targeted and have been especially in the likes of northland and gisborne for quite some time. SShhhh as long as the tuorists dont find out.

8/07/2012 3:59:29 p.m.

Ross wrote:

As someone who left NZ for greener pastures several years ago but still regularly tunes into TV3 News, I have to ask whether the Mayor of Tauranga has read today's other headlines ( hitch-hikers robbed and beaten in Papamoa, a mob attack in downtown Hamilton )and wonder what planet he is really on! News stories of rape, murder and repeated robberies of tourists to NZ regularly hit the international headlines, and anyone who believes NZ is still a safe place to travel in is simply dreaming. I just hope the police catch the low-lifes responsible for this latest attack, but if previous episodes are anything to go by, drug or alcohol problems and a poor family background will largely get the blame rather than the perpetrators having to take full responsibility for their criminal acts.