Will you go to Tunisia on holiday?

Posted: 22/08/2017

22 August 2017 - RPS Partnership

Assessing whether there is a threat against you if you travel to a country is a tricky thing to do. Some organisations have a whole raft of staff who do this for a living and even then, they sometimes don’t always get it right. They take the information gleaned from all sorts of sources, to try to determine whether it is safe to go there.

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How does the average holiday maker decide?

The British Foreign Office no longer advises against all travel to Tunisia.

For the last two years, since the attack on Sousse in June 2015, they have advised against all travel to this North African holiday destination. They have just brought in the restrictions on carrying laptops and computers in hand luggage when you return to the UK, but under their own website do not answer the question they themselves pose….”is it safe to go there?” They put the emphasis onto the airlines and inherently YOU to decide.

So, on what do you base your own assessment of danger when you are travelling to go on holiday? How do you make these all-important decisions to keep you and your family safe?

Do I go to Paris sightseeing, backpacking in Peru or to the beaches of Barcelona or Morocco? You may think that going to a business conference in Tunis, a meeting in Mexico or a working with clients in Pakistan is different and you may choose to make different decisions.

Is it the same when your bring your family into the equation and does it depend on your threshold to risk or your experience of travelling? Or does it just make no difference at all?

To put some perspective onto this question for the more unusual places to which you may well travel on holiday, I thought I would write about the discussions I had yesterday.

I am currently working in Pakistan, in Islamabad, says Managing Director, Caroline Neil.

"In my lunchbreak, we were poring over a wall map with some Pakistani colleagues, who were explaining to me how stunning the northern regions were with the mountains and the infamous Hindu Kush". 

I mentioned a friend of mine (very Caucasian in appearance) who was wanting to do a motorbike ride up from Islamabad along the Karakoram highway (N35 north) and into China/Tajikistan. For those of you geographically challenged you may want to look this up!

My colleagues come from this area and assured me that it was stunning and perfectly safe for caucasian looking foreigners – in fact they went as far to say that it was one of the safest places in Pakistan – well apart from one road off to the west – into the Shandur national park. There he said there was a bit of road crime and it was advisable to carry a gun! I value everyone’s thoughts, including his, but it was difficult to reconcile this advice from a trusted colleague with the advice from the British FCO which says….

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advise against all travel on the Karakoram Highway between Islamabad and Gilgit.

Knowing the British FCO can be a little risk adverse, I tried other travel websites, some of which say it’s fine and if you go by bus the security forces give you an escort…. not quite as safe as my colleague had said. “High risk of kidnap” said another, threat of terrorist attack said one more.

Now this may be the extreme to want to bike, motorcycle or even travel by bus as an independent traveller to the northern areas of Pakistan, but it did get me thinking about the Tunisia avdice from the Britich FCO.

Is travelling to the north of Pakistan for the independent traveller so very different from the decision you have to make when deciding whether to go to North Africa on your holiday or now to the equally dangerous capital cities of Europe?

So, the original question of whether to go to Tunisia on holiday. Take your whole family and believe that things have changed since the FCO issued their advice two years ago? Or question why they have lifted the travel warning and what is so different now given that terrorism seems to be on the increase? Of course, it is worth asking your tour operator to see what they think?

What do you think? Contact us on linkedin or twitter @rpspartnership.

Check out our training courses for how to make these decisions and travel more safely here. We can advise you and assist you in your planning. We can also provide crisis management and advice for you if in a business capacity.

Photo: RPS Partnership working in Tunisia running First-Aid training and visiting the deserted tourist spots. 

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