Walking past a travel agent recently I noted that flights
abroad to previous far flung destination – Zanzibar, Brazil, Java and Mexico popped
as being almost the same price as a holiday in the UK!
But of course, with beautiful sunshine, heat and adventure
also comes hand in hand with natural disasters and in some beautiful countries
the risk of terrorism.
Terrorist attacks 3 years ago killed 30 British tourists just
three years ago. Mexico was hit by two earthquakes weeks apart last year. Even
Europe suffers with Greece suffering horrific wildfires which killed over 70
people and resulted in the complete destruction of a tourist resort. France had horrific flash floods last summer
wiping out camping sites and tourist spots.
According though to ABTAS Holiday Trends Report these aren’t putting
us off visiting overseas! The percentage of us packing our bags and heading
overseas has shot up to 60% the highest level since 2011. The effect of
terrorism and targeting sunseekers and tourist has hit home. According to a
survey by Silver Travel Advisor 63% stated that they wouldn’t take a holiday if
there had been terrorist attacks although this does seem a short-lived choice
as adverse effects on visitor numbers are only temporary.
Many of the countries who are continuously hit by natural
disasters also rely heavily on tourism with locals living in poorly constructed
houses and the country’s themselves being poor. This results in both relying on
warning systems in place that are run down and in need of updating.
Indonesianational disaster agency responded after Sulawesi was hit by a tsunami in
September that their 22 deep water buoys had not been working in over 5 years!
Advice from the Foreign& Commonwealth Office (FCO) states that: “The capacity of the Indonesian
emergency and rescue services to deal with large natural disasters is limited.” Yet despite these risks known to such place
Britons are still travelling to Indonesia and in fact the rate has doubled in
the last 9 years.
Because of this such sectors in the travel
industry are adapting their products to prevent these travellers against crisis
and disasters. Insure4Retirement,
a specialist Over 50s Home and Travel insurance provider, in partnership with
Just Travel Cover, offer a Crisis
Response Service with their Ready2Go
Gold travel policy.
A dedicated phone number in this
policy allows their clients immediate assistance and an unrivalled set of
skills if disaster strikes while they are travelling. This key benefit is provided by S-RM which has
a team of crisis response consultants made up of former military, law
enforcement and intelligence agency personnel, strategically positioned around
the world to aid during a crisis as needed.
It seems that as news is now
worldwide and social media has reached the furthest parts of the globe that these
disasters and attacks are becoming a far more frequent headlines which are
quickly replaced by the next breaking news and disaster.
However the nations who rely on
the tourism for their economy work tirelessly to restore these areas and the
travel industry know that these risks will never replace the desire to explore
and visit these places. So the best thing to do is to minimise these risks and ensure there is adequate
planning and cover in place, which can
help you provide peace of mind and assistance in a world full of surprises.
