An increasing number of Australian travellers are running into trouble abroad, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s (DFAT) 2023-24 Consular State of Play report has revealed.
According to the recently released data, this has been led by a dramatic increase in the number of lost and stolen passports reported by Aussies overseas, with rises of 31 per cent (2,678 cases) and 23 per cent (1,945 cases) respectively over 2022-23 numbers.
But misplaced passports are just the start. More seriously, there was a 24 per cent rise in whereabouts (missing persons) incidents (328 cases), a 23 per cent increase in drug-related arrests (117), 21 per cent growth in illness and hospitalisation (1,356) and a three per cent rise in death cases (1,919). There was also a 26 per cent rise in general theft cases (198).
In better news, there was a 10 per cent decrease in welfare and “other serious matters” (2,840 cases).
DFAT’s report provides information about consular and crisis support given to Aussies travelling or living abroad.
According to the department, a consular case is defined as “assistance provided by Australian officials to an Australian who has encountered difficulties overseas”.
“For example, if they’ve been in an accident, a victim of crime, or arrested – is called consular assistance,” DFAT states.
Overall, the department’s Consular Emergency Centre took more than 53,000 calls for assistance during 2022-23 – or the equivalent of more than 1,000 calls a week (or one call every 10 minutes). These calls resulted in 15,200 actual cases of consular and crisis assistance (up seven per cent), with up to 1,422 active consular cases at any one time.
“Depending on a person’s circumstance, a case can be simple or complex. Some cases are quick to resolve. Others can take months or even years,” the department states.
Breakdown of hotspots
So where are Australian travellers running into the most strife?
The top 10 destinations for consular cases in 23/24 were Thailand (827 cases), Indonesia (546), Philippines (528), USA (483), Occupied Palestinian Territories (378), Vietnam (366), China (309), Japan (299), India (254) and Italy (240).
The top 5 destinations for lost or stolen passports overseas were Italy (613), USA (479), UK (400), France (312) and Greece (271).
Last financial year, the Australian Passport Office issued more than 2.5 million passports, which was slightly down on the year before, but over 400,000 more than pre-COVID levels. Around 56 per cent of Australians hold a current passport.
It’s important to note that the number of Australians travelling overseas also rose by 25 per cent y-o-y, so even though overall consular cases rose, they grew relative to the rising number of Aussies who were travelling. Still, more cases are more cases and DFAT’s reach isn’t unlimited, so it’s a significant rise.
With the increase in consular and crisis cases on the rise, it’s important Aussies take the necessary precautions before travelling overseas – like taking out suitable insurance and visiting DFAT’s Smartraveller website.
DFAT says that more than 90 per cent of Australians who visited the site last year “felt it made them more aware of risks when travelling, and more equipped to manage them”.
The top 5 destinations visited on Smartraveller were Indonesia (1.16 million pageviews), Japan (396,994), Vietnam (384,154), Thailand (367,424) and Egypt (364,755).
For more on the Consular State of Play report, Australian travellers should click here.
Check out all the countries on DFAT’s ‘Do Not Travel’ list here.
