Official Government Travel warnings ignored
Almost half of Australians surveyed say they have ignored official government travel warnings when considering an overseas holiday, a poll on the issue has revealed.
The survey, conducted by Australia’s leading holiday destination website totaltravel.com over the last four weeks and involving more than 500 respondents, asked: The Australian Government issues regular travel warnings. How much attention do you pay to them?
While just over half of those surveyed (293 or 53 per cent) said they always followed the travel warnings, one in four travellers (148 or 26 per cent) said they were willing to take a risk and only sometimes followed the advice.
And one in five (117 or 21 per cent) believed they could look after themselves and rarely followed the advice.
Paul Fisher, spokesman for totaltravel.com – ranked the number one site for Australians seeking information about destinations – said the survey result will raise concerns in the Federal Government about the effectiveness of its official travel warnings.
“Clearly, many travellers are not taking these warnings seriously and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) should review why this is the case,” Mr Fisher said
Mr Fisher said the survey result was especially significant given it was conducted just weeks after the mass evacuation of Australian citizens from Lebanon and in the lead up to the fifth anniversary of the “September 11” terrorist attacks in the United States.
“Despite issues such as war, terrorism and diseases like bird flu being constantly in the headlines, almost half of those surveyed said they would still take the risk, believing they could look after themselves and ignore travel warnings,” Mr Fisher said.
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