Note: The report states, "When they [tourists] leave, the police chief himself waves them off - loneliness is the biggest problem here, he said.”
(a) wave (v). Oxford Advanced American Dictionary, undated http://oaadonline.oxfordlearners ... m/dictionary/wave_2
(wave someone off: "to wave goodbye to someone as they are leaving <We all stood in the road and waved our visitors off>")
(b) But there is another meaning:
wave. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed. Houghton Mifflin, 2000. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/wave
("wave off: to dismiss or refuse by waving the hand or arm: waved off his invitation to join the group")