There has “never been a safer time to be a traveller”.
That was the view of journalist Simon Calder, speaking at the Adventure Travel Conference last week.
He told delegates it was vital that the travelling public “get around this fixation with terrorism”.
Calder said he believed travellers should “keep some perspective” when choosing where to holiday and what to do in-destination, urging them not be put off by incidents such as terror attacks.
During a panel discussion on industry issues, he argued that despite each attack on tourists being an “appalling tragedy”, road traffic accidents and water-related incidents, especially in Europe, were far more common dangers to holidaymakers and did not receive comparable media coverage, but even they were on the decline.
“Last year I said travellers need to accept some flipping risk so this year I think I’m going to say, keep some flipping perspective,” Calder, who is senior travel correspondent at the Independent, said.
He claimed the number of Brits killed in road accidents in Spain had decreased by around 80% since UK holidaymakers began widescale holidaying to the country in the 1960s and 70s, with “similar figures” for travel in Portugal. Calder added that due to a heightened sense of risk felt by consumers, travel firms had improved standards and practices, helping to make travel even safer.
“For adventure travel this increased risk [or perceived risk] has meant that you [the travel industry] have never been better at making your clients safe,” he told delegates.
Hans Lagerweij, managing director of Tui’s Adventure Travel Division, said its brands, which include Exodus and Quark Expeditions, were focusing on considering the needs of travellers new to the sector, as it continues to grow.
“We have to brief new customers in a different way to our long-term customers and that is a challenge,” he said. “These new customers don’t have the knowledge or expertise our current customers do.”
Meanwhile, Justin Wateridge, managing director of Steppes Travel, said it was up to the industry to make more of an effort to tackle misconceptions.
“We have to be more positive instead of always looking at the negative,” he told delegates.
