(Lebanon, N.H. – February 23, 2024) Civil unrest and terrorism are travellers’ leading fears, surpassing accidents or injuries and marking a dramatic attitudinal shift since spring 2023, according to the world’s most experienced travellers responding to the Winter 2024 Global Rescue Traveller Sentiment and Safety Survey.

More than a third of travellers (36%) reported civil unrest and terrorism are the biggest concerns during global trips, reflecting a three-fold increase compared to spring 2023. A quarter of respondents (25%) said having an accident or illness during a trip was their greatest fear, a significant decrease from spring 2023 when half of travellers (50%) reported suffering an injury or getting sick was their biggest concern.

“We’re seeing an understandable increase in traveller concern worldwide. Nevertheless, international trip takers continue to travel anyway despite the rising threats of civil unrest, war, and terrorism,” said Dan Richards, CEO of The Global Rescue Companies, the world’s leading provider of medical, security, evacuation and travel risk management services, and a member of the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board at the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Travelers are beefing up their trip protection with security advisory and extraction protection. A third of respondents (34%) said the war in Ukraine, the Hamas attacks on Israel or other violent conflicts make it more likely they will add security extraction and advisory protection to their travel protection package.

“Traveller uncertainty generally increases traveller demand for emergency medical and security services,” Richards said. “Last year, traveller purchases of security and extraction services increased by 36%, and we expect that will continue in 2024. We’ve seen this traveller behaviour since the war in Ukraine, and we’re seeing it continue following the attacks on Israel.”

While civil unrest, terrorism, accidents and illnesses top the list of traveller fears, the survey revealed other concerns. Trip cancellation, robbery or theft garnered between 7-9% of responses. Testing positive for COVID (or its variants) and natural disasters each collected 5% of responses. Nuclear disasters collected <1% of responses.

www.globalrescue.com.