Terror Attacks in Europe – Is it safe to travel??

As a TMC when we are often asked about the potential dangers of travelling to high risk destinations, the usual questions on this are based around political upheaval or terrorism.     However, with the events in Paris on the 13th November many clients have asked if it’s safe to travel at all!

The answer is of course yes, it’s safe to travel.   In looking at the reaction from around the world, The Seattle Times recently ran an article entitled “After terror attacks, is it safe to travel to Europe?” in which they interviewed Scott Hume from travel risk and crisis management firm Global Rescue who commented “While the new terrorist attacks in Western Europe are troubling, it remains one of the safest areas in the world, statistically, car accidents and illnesses are still the greatest threats to travellers — not terrorism.”

At the time of the Paris strikes we were relieved that we had no clients in Paris, but what if we had?   As part of our daily routine EQ Travel monitors global events and activity so we can respond quickly when major events occur that may affect our travellers.   If airports are closed and flights cancelled, leaving travellers with lengthy delays or being stuck overnight, we can immediately secure hotel rooms or recommend travelling on other forms of transport or rebook individuals onto later flights.  

However, it’s not just unpredictable terror attacks we have to be aware of, what if you are sending employees to a warzone or unstable state the best advice we can give is to be aware and use common sense!  Simple things like, when you land, always stay in the airport until a designated driver approaches you, don’t leave the terminal looking for a taxi.   Also, depending on how high risk the area is, make sure you hire proper security who know the lay of the land and the political climate.

With advances in technology there are also a number of apps which can help to keep the traveller updated such as G4S TravelAware, a smartphone application that can be downloaded onto a traveller’s handset, it allows for two-way communication between the user and their base office.  G4S says that it can provide instant information, based on ground intelligence, from security teams in over 100 countries across the globe that give live updates on continual updates to any potentially dangerous situations that might arise. 

The main advice we can give, if you are travelling always book through a TMC, that way if you do run into a situation (even snow blizzards) you have professionals to advise you and rearrange your travel.