“As extreme weather threatens to throw even the best-laid travel plans into disorder, will the peak Northern hemisphere holiday season lose its allure?”
This is one of the questions that the Bryte Travel Index 2023 seeks to answer in its report. While its data for South African travellers shows that travel has stabilised and many people revisited their favourite holiday destinations between July 2022 and June 2023, there are concerns about the impacts of climate change.
The report quotes statistics from the European Forest Fire Information System, which says 2022 saw the region experiencing the second-worst wildfire season on record. In light of recent weather extremes, the United Nations World Meteorological Organization has advised that this is the ‘new normal’.
Aside from climate change risks, the report says Mauritius, the UK, the US, France and Italy are the top destinations travelled to by South Africans. To get them there, Qatar Airways is the airline of choice, while Emirates, Air Mauritius, British Airways, Turkish Airlines, KLM, Ethiopian Airlines and Lufthansa rank among other favourites.
Bryte also analyses the countries where it is paying the highest medical claims by rand value.
“Seeking emergency medical care abroad is expensive. That is the iron law of travel risk… The basic fact is that medical care – eye-wateringly expensive in the US – accounts for the highest cost of claims paid to Bryte customers,” says the report. It makes recommendations for how travellers can mitigate their risk.
“Plan for your itinerary, not just your destination.”
Read the full report here: Bryte Travel Index 2023.
