Home Travel News

How many Australians were arrested overseas last year?

We know Australians like to have fun, drink a little and get a little rowdy while holidaying, but we didn't realise so many were ending their trips in an overseas four-by-four cell.

We know Australians like to have fun, drink a little and get a little rowdy while holidaying, but we didn’t realise so many were ending their trips in an overseas four-by-four cell.

According to a new Consular State of Play report released by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) today, around 1,256 Aussies were arrested while on holidays over the 2014/15 financial year – up 49 on the prior year and up 116 compared to five years ago.

Although the figure may sound high, it is quite small when compared to the 1.83 million Australians that travelled overseas over the 12-month period.

It’s also relatively low compared to the number of Aussies who sought out consular assistance to assist with location aka they were lost. There was about 5,697 of these cases, up almost a 1,000 compared to the prior year.

arrested

Around 1,282 of Aussie travellers passed away while on holidays – a rise of 67 people compared to 2013/14 – and another 1,453 were hospitalised.

The majority of Australian consular cases (667) came from Bangkok in Thailand. Around 163 of those cases were due to hospitalisation and another 146 related to someone’s passing.

The USA was the second largest destination for consular assistance with 649 cases submitted, mostly for assault, visa and drug issues.

theft

Around 2,595 Australians claimed to have lost their passport while travelling over the 12 months to 30 June 2015 and another 2,621 were stolen.

A large number of passport theft came from Europe (Spain, France and Italy) while a shocking 653 Australians visiting the USA misplaced their identification.

DFAT today launched a new ad campaign to encourage more Australians to educate themselves on their host destination prior to travelling overseas by visiting the Smartraveller website.

The new advertising campaign will feature ads on TV, digital, print, outdoor and social media. There will also be a new Smartraveller smartphone application for android devices which will complement the existing iPhone application.

Are you surprised by any of these figures?