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TRAVEL SAFETY SURVEY: "We Can’t Be Grounded By Fear,”

In a world full of worry; we must remember to continue to do the things we love. The annual 2020 Global Rescue Travel Safety Survey has been released and thankfully 95% of respondents are still travelling!

In a world full of worry; we must remember to continue to do the things we love. The annual 2020 Global Rescue Travel Safety Survey has been released and thankfully 95% of respondents are still travelling!

According to the survey, gender and age drive the biggest differences in travel concerns among travelers.

Despite 85% of people surveyed being concerned about travel safety, worries about travel have become second nature and most travellers say these concerns will not impact their plans.

“Concerns about safety appear, unfortunately, to be a part of life at this time.”

Global Rescue member from Berkeley, California.

The 2020 survey found today’s travelers are planning and researching — taking precautions and adjusting expectations — so they can enjoy their adventures. According to one respondent, “you simply need to minimize your hazards”.

So, keep calm and Karryon exploring.

 

Personal and Family vs. Business Travel

Safety Survey

Younger respondents (ages 25 to 39) are more worried about personal travel, while older demographics (ages 40 to 49) are more worried about family travel.

The results show that men are about 50% more concerned than women about family travel.

When it comes to business travel, across age demographics, a little more than 30% of respondents were “not concerned”.

Business travel may be less of a fear due to the duty of care obligations of employers.

“I have a whole global security department at work to keep me safe and secure while traveling on business. So for my personal/family travel, the concern for safety and security falls on me, not work,”

Global Rescue member from Texas.

 

Global Hot Spots

Safety Survey

The Middle East is the region most troubling to travelers with 56% reporting they would be “very concerned” making a trip there.

“The Middle East gets a bad rap,” said Matt Napiltonia, a Global Rescue senior operations manager and former Navy SEAL. “There are places you just can’t go, like Syria and Iraq. But Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Israel, the UAE, and other areas are great and relatively safe compared to other places.”

Trips to Asia (25%) and Africa (22%) were the next most worrisome for travelers. 64% percent of travelers said they were “not concerned” about going to North America.

Concerns about visiting Europe have decreased. The travel survey found 74% were worried about European travel in 2018, 66% in 2019 and 58% in 2020.

 

Top Travel Threats

Safety Survey

Travelers listed health/medical issues and street crime as the greatest personal threats while traveling, followed by terrorism, traffic accidents, civil unrest and – more than halfway down the list – cybersecurity.

Global Rescue security experts believe cybersecurity should be a higher concern.

“It takes less than two minutes to draw everything off your laptop or smartphone, Publick Wi-Fi is not secure”

Matt Napiltonia, a Global Rescue senior operations manager and former Navy SEAL

One Global Rescue member agreed, stating “Cybercrime is a big concern, especially identity and credit card theft. I have had both hacked while traveling, and the pain and suffering to fix the mess it creates was staggering,”.

 

More interesting stats

Safety Survey

Travelers ages 25 to 39 are the only demographic worried about natural disasters on their travels, although the risk is rather low.

Travelers ages 40 to 49 are the only demographic worried about traffic accidents on trips, which is actually a safety risk that should concern everyone, with the CDC reports 1.3 million people are killed in motor vehicle crashes worldwide.

Travelers under age 40 believe “health/medical issues” are the greatest threat (40%) while touring and exploring, compared to only 29% of travelers between 40 to 60 years old.

The annual 2020 Global Rescue Travel Safety Survey was conducted between 22-28 January 2020 and results are based on the responses of 2,400 Global Rescue members.