Tourism safety and security is a hot issue worldwide, Germany included. Travelers prefer to visit destinations that are safe. This is not different for high spending and long staying German tourists. A new survey by the market research company GfK shows that a majority of Germans think the parts of the world that are German-speaking are safe. It includes Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Liechtenstein. 77% percent of Germans thought their own country is absolutely safe.
The GfK survey showed that 53 percent consider Scandinavia safe for travel, and 52 percent think the same about Italy.
Despite Spain being the most popular tourist destination for Germans, most seem to think you are taking your life in your hands when you fly off for a weekend in Mallorca – just 49 percent consider the new Castilian country a place where one can feel safe and secure.
The team behind the survey said that discussions of increasing taxes on tourists had given Germans the feeling they were no longer welcome in Spain. Meanwhile a recent terror attack in Barcelona and unrest in Catalonia had also contributed to the muted enthusiasm for the Iberian peninsula.
Classic tourism destinations like Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia were considered riskier, with just 5 percent of respondents agreeing that they were safe.
Sun, beach, and sea have been replaced by security as the number one factor for travelers when it comes to picking their destination.
The survey asked people about their attitudes to 30 tourism regions. Only one in three thought of Britain as safe, and just under one in four (23 percent) said that the United States is a safe destination. Australia and Canada ranked more favourably, winning the trust of 44 percent and 47 percent of Germans, respectively.
Better educated Germans were almost twice as likely as the average to say that Britain and the US were safe countries to travel to.
