Business travel is becoming riskier, if new research by the Collinson Group is to be believed.
The company says that in the first half of 2015, business travellers made 2,477,105 visits to destinations that experienced level three security incidents, as identified by Collinson Group, compared to 1,634,840 a year earlier. Category three security incidents include attempted coups and terrorist attacks.
The company looked at data from ONS and the destinations which had the biggest increases in business travel are shown in the chart below. Of these 10, five — Tunisia, Mexico, Thailand, Egypt and Israel — experienced level three incidents, the company said.
The sharp rise in business travel to Tunisia came in a period that saw three level three incidents in the country, including the June 2015 attack on tourists in Sousse. The company said that 41 countries, mainly in Middle Eastern, North African and sub-Saharan African countries, experienced level three attacks in the first six months of the year.
The company has also published figures showing the riskiest countries in 2015 and how the number of incidents has increased since the first half of 2014. Overall, the number of incidents in the top 10 riskiest countries has grown by 63% year on year.
Mark Rands, head of assistance at Collinson Group, said: "The world remains a challenging place for business travellers, both in countries we might associate as being more inherent with risk but also in those we tend to not think twice about...Firms must focus on ensuring their travelling staff have ready access to information and guidance that is relevant to high impact events as well as their specific travel itineraries and individual circumstances to protect the safety and wellbeing of these employees both pre-journey and in-travel."