Safety tops female travellers' worries
Female travellers feel less safe travelling now than they did five years ago, a new survey commissioned by AIG Travel has found.
According to its findings, 45 per cent of female travellers feel less safe or much less safe about traveling than they did five years ago. It also found that safety was at the top of women travellers’ minds when assessing potential travelling locations.
However, this is not putting many off, with two-thirds of female travellers being very likely or somewhat likely to travel alone to either a domestic or international destination in 2018. In order to increase their safety while away, 93 per cent of women said that they are likely to share their itinerary with a family member or friend, while 87 per cent said that they would purchase travel insurance, emergency travel medical coverage, and/or emergency travel evacuation coverage.
AIG Travel’s analysis of the data concluded that employers could adopt a larger role in educating employees about travel safety. “The local risks where employees travel may be completely different than the local risks they face in their home city,” said Gaurav D. Garg, CEO of Personal Insurance at AIG. “With the help of insurers, employers can tailor insurance and security programmes to meet the needs of their entire workforce.”
AIG has also recently launched a Women’s Travel Safety initiative, which shares advice on how to research travel destinations, become familiar with local laws and customs, and leverage tools in the event of adverse situations such as kidnappings or other crimes.
“As a travel safety advocate and as part of our organisation’s commitment to educate the public, we feel well-positioned to provide women, who may have unique travel considerations, with tools designed to help them be more aware, alert, confident travellers,” said Rhonda Sloan, Head of Marketing and Industry Relations at AIG Travel. “Our research findings underscore the fact that although many travellers are already quite savvy about helping to ensure their personal safety, our industry still has opportunities to provide guidance and resources to help women minimize risks and experience safer journeys.”