Covid-19 fades from travellers’ concerns, says Global Rescue survey

Accidental injury, other illnesses, trip cancellations top concerns
2022-11-23
/
/ New Delhi
Covid-19 fades from travellers’ concerns, says Global Rescue survey

Today’s travellers are more apprehensive about the escalation or start of a war, or other threats of military action in their destination countries than the spread of Covid-19

After almost three years of dominating the list of travellers’ concerns, Covid-19 has finally taken a backseat as other, more ‘normal’ concerns take over, ranging from accidents to trip cancellations.
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For about three years now, catching Covid-19 infection while travelling has dominated the list of travellers’ worries. However, with the pandemic clearly waning around the world, it has also fallen out of the list of top concerns. These are the findings of a survey conducted by leading travel insurance provider, Global Rescue.

The Global Rescue Fall 2022 Traveler Safety and Sentiment Survey revealed that Covid-19 is actually far from their greatest concern when considering travelling overseas. In fact, participants’ anxieties about the virus dropped dramatically, by 39 pc since the last poll in August 2022.

“Travel confidence is exploding in a positive direction. Borders are open, TSA data reflects traveler volumes pushing past pre-pandemic levels for the first time in more than two years, and travel spending is at its highest since the pandemic started,” says Dan Richards, CEO of Global Rescue, in a statement.

At present, exactly one-third or 33 pc of travellers identified their biggest trip-related fear would be suffering some sort of injury or non-Covid-19 illness while abroad. This worry was trailed by concerns over possible trip cancellation which was at 13 pc, while civil unrest ranked at 11 pc, being robbed at 5 pc, natural disasters at 3 pc and nuclear attack, less than 1 pc.

According to a press statement by Global Rescue, today’s travellers are more apprehensive about the escalation or start of a war, or other threats of military action in their destination countries than the spread of Covid-19. With the number and severity of storms, like hurricanes and blizzards, rising in recent years, travellers also increasingly fear that these and other such natural disasters might impact their trips.

Both of these factors have made travellers more likely to obtain trip protection and security services. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, over one-third of experienced travellers surveyed began buying evacuation protection plans, Global Rescue report says. With the war still raging nearly a year later, more than half of those surveyed indicated that they are “more likely” or “much more likely” to obtain travel security services.

“Travel uncertainty generally increases traveller demand for emergency medical and security services. Between the war and the pandemic, travellers want medical and emergency response services more than ever,’’ says Richards.

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