The Most Dangerous Places To Travel In 2020
November 18, 2019Stay in the know with exclusive industry news, click here and subscribe to our eNewsletter today!
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Thanks to the ease of travel, the world has never been smaller. But no matter where you go, there are risks. International SOS, a medical and travel security risk services company, has released its 11th annual Travel Risk Map, which predicts the most dangerous places to travel in 2020, as well as the biggest issues that travelers will face in the year ahead. This is accompanied by the Business Resilience Trend Watch, a survey of over 1,300 professionals across 214 countries who are responsible for business travel decisions. According to the survey, 47% of business travel planners anticipate that risks will rise in the coming year, due to an uptick in security threats, civil unrest, geopolitical unrest and natural disasters.
According to Matthew Bradley, regional security director at International SOS, the number one risk for next year is risk from geopolitical shifts. “Civil unrest is generated from inequality and people wanting to have a different situation in their country than they had in the past,” says Bradley. “We’ve seen that most notably in Hong Kong, in other lower-risk countries like Chile and in some higher-risk countries like Bolivia, Ecuador and Lebanon.”
On the Travel Security Risk Map of the world, International SOS lists five categories of risk: insignificant, low, medium, high and extreme. According to International SOS, these ratings are based on “the current threat posed to travelers by political violence (including terrorism, insurgency, politically motivated unrest and war), social unrest (including sectarian, communal and ethnic violence) as well as violent and petty crime.” Other factors include transportation infrastructure, industrial relations, the effectiveness of security and emergency services and susceptibility to natural disasters.