Brits behaving badly

How prepared are travellers when it comes to avoiding or minimizing problems? A new report suggests there is a lot of room for improvement.

Arrests, hospitalizations, lost passports and even deaths are among the many reasons British nationals needed help from their government while travelling last year. On August 2, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Know before you go campaign released its new report on British Behaviour Abroad which reveals some startling statistics.

For instance, Greece had the largest number of hospitalizations at 955, despite having significantly less visitors than Spain and France. The USA has the most arrests per capita at 1368, as well as the most lost passports (3064) – second only to 6078 lost passports in Spain which had three times as many visits. The data doesn't cover victims of crime other than rape or transportation accidents.

Furthermore, the report suggests that “although Brits are getting more adventurous with their travels, they are not doing enough preparation before they go.” The FCO hopes releasing this data will encourage travellers to better prepare for their trips. According to the report, the FCO “believes that many of these problems could be prevented or made easier to deal with through better preparation by travellers”. The report therefore provides tips and information on preventing common problems, such as protecting your password, avoidng excessive drinking and exercising caution in certain locations.

The best advice? Check out the government travel advice before you go.

To see the full details of the report, see British Behaviour Abroad.