New analysis by Collinson Group reveals a 52% (842,264) increase in the number of visits by UK business travellers to high-risk destinations overseas in the first half of 2015 compared to the same period a year earlier. 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.

High-risk countries which have experienced level three security incidents include Nigeria, Tunisia, Pakistan, Ukraine, Turkey, Egypt and India. In the first half of 2015, a total of 41 countries registered level three incidents with Middle Eastern, North African and sub-Saharan African countries making up the vast majority.

According to the analysis of ONS Travelpac data, Tunisia saw the largest increase in business travel visits – up 362% in the first half of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014. At the same time Tunisia has also seen a steep rise in security risks, where terrorist activity gave rise to three level three alerts in the period January to June 2015, compared with zero for the same period in 2014.

Two other countries that have witnessed exponential growth in the number of business travellers have also experienced serious security incidents, from car bombs to air strikes: Egypt saw a 60% increase in business travel visits in the first six months of 2015 and Israel saw visits increase 41%. Both countries have experienced significant category three security incidents in the first half of the year. In addition, British business travellers made 2,852 visits to Pakistan in the first six months of this year, a country that ranks eighth in the world for the number of the highest risk security threats recorded globally in 2015.

Collinson Group is advising employers to review their corporate travel policies and consider what mechanisms they have in place to respond to a broadening array of emergency scenarios; from the increasingly less geographically biased nature of terrorism to other factors that can pose a threat to traveller security – such as lone travellers to more unfamiliar destinations.

Mark Rands, head of assistance at Collinson Group, said: “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."

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