-Far more than accidents or injuries, American travelers are worried about political unrest and terrorism during their trip, according to Global Rescue’s survey of traveler safety and sentiment this winter.
The survey, which asked over 1,500 current and former Global Rescue members about their travel concerns in late January, revealed that 36% of travellers are most concerned about political unrest and terrorism, a threefold increase from spring 2023.
A quarter of respondents are most concerned about the possibility of an accident or illness during their trip, down from the same survey last spring, when 50% of travellers said this was their biggest concern.
Between 7-9% of travellers reported that trip cancellation, robbery or theft were their biggest concerns, while 5% said they were afraid of testing positive for COVID-19 and a similar percentage said they were afraid of being confronted with natural disasters.
In addition, 34% of respondents noted that recent global crises, such as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, are more likely to encourage them to purchase additional travel protection, including insurance or other conflict-specific coverage.
“We are seeing an understandable increase in travellers’ concerns worldwide. Nevertheless, international travelers continue to travel anyway, despite the growing threats of civil unrest, war and terrorism,” said Dan Richards, CEO of The Global Rescue Companies, the world’s leading provider of medical, safety and travel risk management services, and a member of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Travel and Tourism Advisory Committee.
“Traveler uncertainty generally increases traveler demand for emergency medical and security services,” said Mr. Richards.
According to him, last year, traveller purchases for safety and security services increased by 36% and this is expected to continue into 2024.
“We have seen this traveller behaviour since the war in Ukraine and we have seen it continue since the attacks in Israel,” Mr Richards added.
