International SOS: Perception of terrorism risks increases in Australasian travellers in 2016/2017

1 February, 2018

International SOS released (31-Jan-2018) new travel risk mitigation study titled 'Rethink Unpredictable', examining regional business travel medical, security and assistance case data to determine upcoming business travel trends that challenge the concept of volatile travel risks. According to the report:

  • 72% of Australasia based business travel health and security personnel say travel risks have increased over the past year. Of those risks, 64% of Australia and New Zealand respondents think terrorism increased in 2016;
  • Despite the perception of higher terrorism risks, terrorism-related deaths around the world decreased both in 2016 and 2017, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace's annual Global Terrorism Index. Less than 1% of the security alerts sent out by International SOS in FY2016/2017 related to terrorist warnings and events;
  • 43% of medical cases managed by International SOS between 2016 and 2017 occurred in low to medium risk countries. Less than 1% of all cases require a costly and disruptive evacuation;
  • The most common cause of medical evacuations in the corporate sector are due to cardiovascular diseases (38%) and 20% of in-patient medical centre visits are due to gastrointestinal issues. 44% of all in-patient cases of clients in the education sector are related to injuries and 65% of all evacuations are due to injuries. [more - original PR]