How Business Travellers Can Stay Safe In The Worlds Hotspots
By John WIlliams, Thu Dec 8th
word count: 614 character width: 60 resource box: 2 lines + urllink to cheaphotelsdeals.com ========================================================== "HowBusiness Travellers Can Stay Safe in the Worlds Hotspots" - by John Williams
© DigiLectual Inc. 2004 http://www.cheaphotelsdeals.com/========================================================== Business travellers increasingly find themselves needing tovisit hotspots. Outside Europe and America, many countries needspecial care. Obviously, Iraq wouldn't be the number one choicefor a business trip. But other countries, like Saudi Arabia orparts of the Far East, require attention too. Horrific stories of kidnapping and murder scare anyone planningto visit a hotspot. But what are the real risks ? And what canyou do to minimize those risks ? Let's make a list, and discuss each in turn. * Kidnapping * Attack * Robbery * Accident It's reassuring to discover few travellers fall victim tokidnapping. Kidnap victims are usually local people or residentexpatriates. Why ? Probably because travellers areunpredictable. Kidnappers don't know their plans, where they'restaying, or even that they're there at all ! Random attacks are much more likely, but the risk of these canbe much minimized, as we'll discuss later. Robbery - theft of possessions and money can be common amongtravellers. But these risks can also be minimized. The biggest threat to business travellers comes from accidents.The number of road accidents, in particular, far exceeds anydeaths in terrorist incidents. How to minimize risk Reduce your risk by good preparation. Learn about the countryand city you plan to visit. A number of websites will help yourresearch. The U.S State Department runs a website athttp://travel.state.gov/travel/ The British Foreign Officemaintains a website at www.fco.gov.uk - you can find constantlyupdated general and country specific travel advice. If you get advice, follow it. Don't ignore it. Keep a lowprofile where possible, and don't draw unfavourable attention.Is that a good neighbourhood you plan to walk around ? How aboutthat quaint little bar ? Maybe it's the local criminal hangout ? Find out what you can before you leave, and then take localadvice when you get there. Chat with your taxi driver and yourhotel manager.
You'll find out 99% of what you need to know fromthese two guys ! So, before you go you've already found out about good and badareas of town. You've learned enough to book a good hotel in agood area. Then you'll fill in more detail when you get there(manager, taxi driver etc.) But what if things go wrong ? Okay, you've taken steps to reduce your risk. But accidentssometimes happen. You might get robbed in broad daylight on abusy street, though it's unlikely. Get proper insurance. Standard travel insurance covers mostsituations, and you should check with your broker. Not allinsurance covers business travel, so check. In some higher riskcountries, you might need specialist insurance. Yes, you can getinsurance to cover emergency evacuation, or even payment toskilled negotiators to help secure your release. But you only need insurance when it's already too late. Makecontingency plans to get yourself out of a bad situation. You'vegot backup plans for your computer systems and other businessoperations. Make backup plans for yourself. If you get caught in political disruption or natural disaster,what will you do ? Communication usually disappears first. Buyor borrow a mobile phone that works locally. Take your owntri-band phone, or rent a phone locally at the airport. Makesure you've got a local contact who can get messages back ifnecessary (agree this in advance). So there's little need to worry about the more horrificincidents we see on T.V every day. But more mundane risks, suchas robbery or attack can be minimized by the right preparation.Use the internet to research where you're going, and use the U.Sand U.K Government web sites for up- to-date advice. ===========================================================Discover useful information, and some of the best cheap hotelsdeals on the internet. Click ==>http://cheaphotels.cheaphotelsdeals.com/ ** Attn Ezine editors / Site Owners ** Feel free to reprint thisarticle in its entirety in your ezine or on your site so long asyou leave all links in place, do not modify the content andinclude my resource box as listed above. If you do use the article please send me a note toarticles@cheaphotelsdeals.com so I can take a look. Thanks.Check out other great articles athttp://www.cheaphotelsdeals.com/articles.htm
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