As hinted in last weeks post about Travel thought leaders at CATO some great information came via DFAT’s Greg Moriaty (Dept of Foreign Affairs and Trade) about travel insurance, reasons travellers should always register travel plans, the numbers of Australians travelling overseas and where he thinks traveller numbers are going.

Travel Insurance in a no brainer. Realistically, if you can’t afford travel insurance you can’t afford to travel.

On the stats side some of the most interesting items were the large numbers which had the outbound traveller numbers at 6 Million departures last year and over 1.3 Million new passports issued for 06-07 a rise of over 8% and over 30,000 Australians required consular assistance. The dept expects new passport issue numbers to climb to 2 Million passports a year withing 2 years - not bad for a country with about 22million people.

Without a doubt the most important piece on information came in the form of a very clear example of why all travellers should register their travel plans with DFAT the State Dept  or their own Govt department. Greg gave a specific example of ways they helped people during the recent Terrorist Attacks in Mumbai.

DFAT had realtime intel coming in about the situation as it unfolded, the Dept was able to cross reference this information against records and registrations it had for travellers and then further check for specific rooms and floors. DFAT officers supplyied alerts via text message to Australians in hotels advising if their floor was clear and safe to evacuate and the safest evacuation path or if their floor was not secure and to stay concealed in their rooms.

No doubt technology and intellligence activities contibuted a lot to the success of these operations but without the knowlegde of who was where and contact numbers to send alerts to all the technology and intelligence in the world would have made no difference.

The moral of the story travellers? Wether you are on Tour or out on your own, Register with your State Dept and let people know where your going and how to contact you. In the unlikely event you need help it’s good to be able to get it efficiently and also let authorites and loved ones know how and where you are.

Ever been away somewhere you’ve needed a medical evacuation?
Do you register travel plans with the Govt or just leave a copy of your documents with a Next of Kin?

The life you save could be your own!

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