Sharing resources and good practice across travel

We learn a lot from the various organisations and groups we work with - everything from how to administer an epi pen to why you should avoid the colour blue when choosing a swimming costume for your child.

Safer Tourism is all about prevention and the more you know, the better prepared you can be. We’ve pulled together insights, information and research from across a number of safety resources to share with our friends in the travel industry.

Let us know if there’s something you’d like to know more about!

  • From printable allergy cards, tips sheets, studies and first person accounts. If the content is useful, we'll happily host it.

  • We're happy to update our content and the links we're pointing people towards! Just let us know if you've seen something new or if anything is missing.

  • We learn from each other. If you have useful information, insights, tips or guidance that can help the travel sector remain safe for travellers, we're happy to hear from you.

Travel incident data collected from Safer Tourism Pledge partners has unveiled a rising risk when it comes to keeping travellers with life threatening allergies safe. Here you’ll find research, content and advice from leading experts in this space.

The Safer Tourism Foundation was born out of a tragedy - the death of two small children from carbon monoxide poisoning while on holiday. We work with leaders in gas safety as well as people who’ve had first hand experience to gather useful information about the risks of CO.

Days by the pool or on the beach can be a big part of a holiday. But the risks are well documented. We’ve collected resources from leading water safety experts, such as the RNLI, RoSPA, RLSS UK and others to bring all the information you need together in one place.

Safer Tourism Insights & Content

  • The Holiday Head

    Safer Tourism CEO Kathy Atkinson delved into the Holiday Head phenomenon to help travel providers understand why travellers behave differently on holiday, and how that impacts risk.

    Learn more

  • Travel Incident data

    Each year, Safer Tourism collects travel incident data from our Pledge partners, helping us understand where things go wrong, what risks are on the rise and what travel providers are doing about it.

    Read more

  • Travel Behaviour Risk Index

    The Safer Tourism Foundation regularly surveys travellers to understand how they perceive risk, where safety ranks in their list of priorities and what travel incidents they've experienced.

    Learn more

FAQs

  • The first thing to know is that, while they do happen, safety incidents are rare. Less than 1% of UK outbound trips include any kind of reported health or safety incident.

    However, when there is an issue, it can mean major consequences. The most common incidents are slips, trips and falls, followed by gastrointestinal issues such as diarrhoea and vomiting.

    Other incidents impacting travel include safety issues around water, cycling and hiking accidents, theft, harassment, anti-social behaviours, issues arising from exposure to extreme weather such as dehydration and sunstroke, allergic reactions to food and other allergens, carbon monoxide poisoning, and in the most extreme cases, death.

  • There is not one globally recognised and implemented standard when it comes to safety. Each country or territory will have its own regulations and standards.

    Many travel operators who provide holidays for UK travellers will also have their own strict health and safety standards to which they adhere.

    Safer Tourism Pledge Partners agreed to a set of commitments articulating a stringent approach to traveller risk, health and safety when they sign up to the Pledge.

    The World Travel and Tourism Council publishes reports on key issues impacting the travel sector, including safety, security and crisis preparedness, while the UNWTO has called for an international code for the protection of tourists.

    Travel associations like ABTA and AITO also work to support travel operators and businesses to maintain and improve health and safety standards for UK travellers.

  • There are a number of resources and companies who can support travel operators achieve and maintain higher levels of standards when it comes to health and safety. While there is no single international standard, UK regulations do apply for any package holiday operators carrying UK passengers.

    Alongside associations like ABTA and WTTC or schemes like ATOL, businesses can work with consultants to develop and implement travel safety, crisis preparedness and risk management procedures. Companies such as Sanderson Philips, Tranquilico, Intertek Crystal, Intertek Checkpoint and others all provide robust auditing and training programmes.

  • We work in partnership with travel companies, tourism destinations and others, sharing learnings and influencing where relevant to effect practical changes which improve the health and safety of travellers, without negatively impacting local communities or residents.

    We developed the Safer Tourism Pledge to identify and recognise those travel operators who adhere to excellent standards of safety management. The Pledge is a set of commitments which articulate support for the charity’s aims and an intent to work with us to improve the health and safety of tourists.

    We collect and analyse safety incident data from our Safer Tourism Pledge partners to identify significant trends in traveller safety and encourage productive collaboration within the sector to minimise future risk.