Rise in reported travel incidents as a new travel risk horizon emerges
Safer Tourism publishes annual Travel Risk Behaviours Index, highlighting rise in incident likelihood and increase in travellers experiencing food allergy and heat related illnesses
Once a year we ask Safer Tourism Pledge partners - a wide range of tour operators - to share their anonymised health and safety incident data with us. We use the insights from the aggregated data (what happens to travellers abroad?) to shape our own biannual consumer research (why does it happen?). The result is the Travel Risk Behaviours Index.
A core message of our newly released 2025 Travel Behaviour Risk Index is that a warming world and an ageing traveller population are contributing to a new risk horizon. But we've also seen how operator interventions in key risk areas can make a real difference in reducing incident rates. This should give confidence both to the industry and to travellers.
This year’s Index also shows some new behavioural blind spots amongst travellers and a widening gap between traveller confidence and capability, reflected in a significant increase in the rate of reported health and safety incidents in travel.
🔍 Some of the key shifts highlighted in the combined data include:
Reported incidents are up 15%, with the likelihood of a traveller experiencing a reported safety incident increasing to a 1 in 217 chance in 2024 having remained fairly constant in 2022 and 2023 at around a 1 in 270 chance. This increase is probably a combination of better industry reporting and a rise in the number of incidents (it is very hard to disaggregate these effects).
Gastric illness remains the most common incident type (39%), followed by slips, trips and falls — particularly affecting older travellers, for whom the impacts can be extremely serious. However, falls prevention work by operators has shown to be both possible, and effective in reducing incidence.
1 in 4 UK travellers say they have experienced a heat-related incident abroad, yet 30% told us they took no preventative action. And the lack of responsive action by travellers increases with age, so more than half of travellers aged over 65 told us they would not alter their behaviour to take account of heat (despite older people having particular vulnerabilities in extreme heat). Heat risk remains complex and highly personalised, and in a warming world neither travel providers nor travellers can afford to do nothing about it.
Food allergy incidents have increased by 14% in the past year and remain a key concern for us, with fatal anaphylaxis a rare but real risk for travellers with severe food allergies. With allergen regulation and understanding varying widely around the world, travel providers and all suppliers still have work to do to ensure travel is as inclusive (and safe) as possible. We're working with experts at Imperial College to map the global allergy environment (and risks) to help travellers with allergies continue to do the travel they want to do.
Reported incidents of travellers experiencing inappropriate behaviour, sexual harassment and assault have increased, reflecting a broader societal trend (particularly in light of the Me Too movement) in people's willingness to report, but our consumer research shows that travellers still experience barriers when deciding whether to pursue action (e.g. local law enforcement) or to seek support when they may be feeling very vulnerable.
New traveller behavioural blind spots include incidents when using e-bikes and e-scooters (perhaps based on an assumption that these are "just" faster versions of regular bikes and scooters) and in people's assessment of their ability to deal with ocean conditions, including close to shore and in open water activities.
Travellers rate safety as a major factor in destination choice, but that focus drops sharply once activities are booked and holiday prep begins. This devaluation of safety considerations as travel planning moves from macro to micro presents interesting communication challenges across the customer journey.
In four waves of our consumer research, no more than 70% of all travellers have told us they take out travel insurance. Given that social desirability bias is likely to influence responses, this is likely to be an over-estimate of the real figure. The lack of protection for travellers continues to be a source of concern for all providers and the FCDO. And we know the main reason people do not take out travel insurance is not because of the cost. It is because they don't think they will need it - classic optimism bias.
We'd like to pay tribute to Safer Tourism Pledge partners. This year we worked together to develop ways to improve reporting across the sector to give us a clearer, more actionable picture of where interventions can reduce harm and save lives. And the Safer Tourism Pledge is already delivering measurable improvements — from CO alarm installation to safer bike operations to reductions in slip/fall incidents. Our partners have been generous in sharing their ideas, their concerns and their solutions for the benefit of all travellers, and we will continue to encourage cross-industry collaboration, shared evidence and collective action.
👉 Explore the full Travel Behaviour Risk Index and dive deeper into the data and findings: