Travel is back, but have travellers learned anything since the pandemic? And are new fears and behaviours replacing old ones? The answers, according to the recent Global Rescue Traveller Sentiment and Safety Survey, are mixed – amidst surging traveller confidence, but shifting fears.
For example, according to the survey, traveller fear of COVID-related illness has plummeted and is no longer the leading concern, though personal health and safety remain the greatest anxieties when it comes to international travel. More than a third of travellers (37%) surveyed said their biggest fear is suffering a non-COVID illness or injury, followed by civil unrest (14%), trip cancellation (12%), robbery (4%), natural disasters (3%) and nuclear attack (less than 1%).
More than half (54%) of the travellers completing the survey said they obtain a pre-travel health consultation with a physician to discuss their itinerary, pre-existing conditions, a medications list, and any health concerns they may have to decrease medical risks during travel.
Those results, however, are in stark contrast to most North American travellers of whom only 25 to 30% sought medical advice before visiting countries overseas, according to Mass General Brigham.
New worries
When it comes to travelling internationally there are other concerns travellers have that, while less severe than illness or injury, are nevertheless worrisome.
Nearly a quarter (23%) of survey respondents said hotel and lodging safety was most important, while 10% worry about car service and taxi safety. Some want to know if the destination is safe for families (15%) or women (11%) to travel; 10% want to know if they’ll need physical protection. Identity theft and cyber security remain important concerns with 9% of respondents. Less than 3% worry about automobile rental safety or environmental safety.
Old mistakes
Meanwhile, many travellers are re-learning how to travel following years of limited travel availability and pandemic protocols, but according to the Global Rescue survey, even the most well-travelled individuals make mistakes. Survey respondents admitted that over-packing (28%) was the biggest travel mistake since returning to travel, distantly followed by overly ambitious travel itineraries (9%).
Travel mistakes like forgetting an international plug adapter, failing to change your phone data plan, drinking unsafe water, or forgetting to notify your bank you would be out of the country each accounted for 4% or fewer responses. Letting one’s passport or Trusted Traveller Program membership expire, tipping inappropriately, forgetting prescription medicine, or medical security protection each accounted for fewer than 2% of responses.
Unnecessary risks
But despite shifting attitudes, travellers’ confidence is skyrocketing, says Dan Richards, the CEO of US-based Global Rescue, though many are mitigating their worries by safeguarding their health and safety with pre-travel health screenings, medical facility destination reports and travel protection services.
Richards, who also serves on the US Travel and Tourism Advisory Board at the US Department of Commerce, says his company has seen a 40% increase for its medical, security, evacuation, and travel risk management services, observing that “whether it’s flight disruptions, war, natural disaster, or a pandemic, the new normal for travellers includes travel protection for emergency medical services and evacuation. Travel protection services are no longer a take-it-or-leave-it option.”
The Global Rescue survey exposed that one-out-of-four international travellers have needed hospitalization or medical attention during travel, but only 38% researched the quality of medical care at their destination before traveling abroad. The balance (62%) did not do any research in advance.
Richards notes that hospital and medical staff capabilities differ from country to country and region to region and triage may be done differently than it is in North America. Treatment protocols can vary; medications may not look the same; some hospitals use IVs with glass bottles instead of plastic bags.
As such, he says, travellers should obtain destination reports covering the quality and availability of healthcare in the locations they’re visiting before taking a trip.
And in today’s travel landscape, he adds, a traveller may not want to go to any destination where the level of medical care isn’t up to their standards without preparing first.
After all he says, “It puts you, your health and your trip at risk.”