Crime hotspots for Britons travelling abroad

Published on Sunday 26 July 2009 12:33

As many as 7% of British travellers have been victims of crime overseas in the last five years, it was revealed today.

A total of 5% have had personal belongings stolen, with 4% having money taken while abroad, a survey by InsureandGo found.

Also, 1% have been the victim of a physical or sexual assault while holidaying overseas, the survey of 2,000 UK adults found.

Based purely on the number of incidents involving Britons, Spain is the leading crime country for UK visitors.

This is unsurprising due to the fact that Spain plays host to huge numbers of UK visitors. Proportionately, Thailand is the country where Britons are most likely to become crime victims, with one in 13 suffering a crime incident there.

Spain is, in fact, comparatively safe, with only five times as many incidents of crime against Britons than Thailand even though Spain receives 36 times the number of UK tourists as Thailand.

Insureandgo founder Perry Wilson said: "Going on holiday should be an enjoyable, relaxing time but unfortunately millions of people have their trips ruined when they become the victims of crime."

These are the countries with the highest number of crimes against British visitors in the last five years:

COUNTRY INCIDENTS

1. Spain 529,000

2. France 203,000

3. Turkey 175,000

4. Portugal 132,000

5. Thailand 117,000

6. USA 99,000

7. Italy 82,000

8. India 61,000

9. Switzerland 41,000

10.Ireland 36,000