Press Release

Issued by MedAire.

February 1, 2017

MedAire, an International SOS company, has revealed the 2017 Travel Risk Map. Created by the world's leading medical and travel security specialists, the map provides a comprehensive overview of risks by destination and helps organisations and their flight departments in mitigating travel risks. 

The map is a valuable resource to flight departments as security issues remain top of mind for the global business traveller. In a survey about business travel and risks, 80% of the respondents reported they modified travel itineraries due to health or security concerns over the past year. More than half of organisations believe health and travel security risks faced by business travellers will increase over the next 12 months. 

Andrew Nicholson, global security director at MedAire commented: "Events of 2016 have had an impact on the advice we provide for locations that have been traditionally considered low risk. While risks change around the world, organisations must ensure their actions to mitigate those risks are appropriate and proportionate to reality and not just a reaction due to perception. It is essential for pilots and flight departments to have a reliable source of objective information to help them keep business travel running smoothly while keeping travellers and aircraft safe." 

Many organisations have a heightened awareness of health and travel security risks, reporting an increase in investment in risk mitigation for 2017 according to the Ipsos MORI study. MedAire sees the increased focus on risk mitigation first hand, as clients are increasingly requesting security consults, air travel security briefs, airspace assessments, and go/no assessments. 

International Travel Risks and Reality: The New Normal for Business is an Ipsos MORI research study of more than 1,000 business travel decision-makers in 75 countries. Their organisations represent more than 500,000 travellers a year.

The map was developed by International SOS and Control Risks. The map is available for download at http://www.medaire.com/trm2017request.