Do you know someone who lost his passport while on a trip? Or maybe it was their laptop or wallet. Was there anyone whose personal data was hacked while traveling? God forbid, has it ever happened to you?

There is always some risk associated with travel. The fact is almost everyone, even frequent travelers, have felt unsafe sometime or the other. So it makes perfect sense to be prepared before you embark on your next trip. When travel is for business, companies can also do a lot to make their employees feel safe. Yet, a lot depends on your own awareness and behaviour while on the road. Based on our experience as well as using inputs from few road warriors, here is a list of dos and don’ts to keep in mind during travel.

1. Know Your Destination

Read about the city you will be visiting. Get to know it’s crime rates and localities that are generally considered unsafe. Understand the local customs. And don’t forget to check up on the weather as well as any travel advisories or warnings issued by your government.

One of the best sources for information regarding international travel advisories is the US State Department travel advisory page. It is good if you have access to a travel management tool that gives personalized alerts and advisories for your destinations.

2. Secure Personal Items

When you are at the destination, unless absolutely required, do not carry any personal items or documents with you. Keep them locked in your hotel room safe. It is also a good idea to keep copies of important documents such as your passport. If you have valuables, ask the hotel reception for a deposit box.

Many of us are not aware of the typical storage options available at hotels. If you want to know, read this interesting article.

3. Be Careful About What You Eat And Drink

Sampling local cuisine is very much part of the joy of travel. But always find out what is on your plate before eating it. Ask someone if you are not sure. Drink responsibly. Alcohol not only impairs your judgment, too much of it can also make you vulnerable as a target for crime. Finally, always carry basic medicines with you, in case you unfortunately fall ill.

If you are wondering what medicines to carry on a travel, here is an advisory from the US CDC about how to pack smart for a healthy trip. And of course, ensure you have a suitable travel insurance.

4. Try To Blend In

Interact with the locals. Watch and learn how the locals do things. And don’t do stuff they consider offensive. Dress appropriately, but not necessarily in the local costumes. Try not to be too flashy, especially with jewelry.

Here are some fine pointers about how to blend in with the locals.

5. Carry Just What You Need

Do not carry too much money on your person. Take only what you may require. Everything else, keep locked up in your room safe. If you need to go to an ATM, use those located inside banks, shopping centers, hotel lobbies etc. Do it when there are people around. If you get mugged in spite of all precautions, don’t try to be a hero.

Read this fascinating article from Reader’s Digest on how muggers choose their targets and try to avoid those pitfalls.

6. Stay Connected

When you are traveling, it is important that you share your itinerary including hotel details with family, friends or colleagues and update them as often as you can. If you are traveling for work, always stay connected with the travel team in your company. Also ensure that you are familiar with the processes and tools to be used in case you need help during travel.

7. Be Cautious About How You Connect

Staying connected requires access to Internet. Always use trusted wi-fi networks like that of a workplace or your hotel. Avoid use of public wi-fi networks. If you have to, then be aware of the risks and try to use a VPN.

This article describes the risks of using a public wi-fi and how to stay safe if you have to use one.

Many companies do have robust travel risk management (TRM) programs to address traveler safety concerns. A TRM program is not just about policies, guidelines and awareness trainings. A robust TRM program also necessitates tools that provide travelers with contextual information & alerts. It requires capabilties that enable travel teams to understand where travelers are and to offer support when there is a need. The trip management feature in TCat is designed to do just that. If you want to know how, please do reach out to us.

 

Picture credit: Moshe Harosh from Pixabay

Travel is exciting, even when it is for the purpose of business. There is hardly anybody who does not like to roam the world, but in reality, the experience is not always seamless. International and domestic travel come with a number of stringent rules and regulations, resulting in the need for travellers to carry appropriate documents with them. Though rules related to domestic travel are simple, the ones for international travel are complex and dynamic. This can be tricky for travel managers and travellers, as it requires them to validate and recheck document requirements every time, especially when the trip is planned in haste. Sometimes, mistakes can happen to even the most frequent travellers.

One such example comes to mind, cited by a colleague. He was travelling from India to Namibia for business via Dubai and Johannesburg. His travel agent booked tickets without realizing that for transiting Johannesburg, a transit visa was needed for an Indian passport holder. Airline personnel too missed checking for transit visa as he was checking-in from Delhi. However, in Dubai, he was stopped before boarding the flight to Johannesburg. The airline tried to re-route him via other points but couldn’t because he was not vaccinated for yellow fever as mandated for travel in certain African countries. Finally, the trip had to be abandoned. He returned to India after a gruelling eight hour wait at the Dubai airport. You may have had or heard about similar experiences and would agree that the loss of time and money as a result of not being aware of documentation/visa requirements is entirely avoidable.

In a recent survey conducted by Catalyca, it was found that a whopping 84% of business travelers out of 600 plus respondents wanted to have clear visibility into the sufficiency of their travel documents before embarking on a trip.

The list of important documents and artifacts typically required during travel goes like this.

1. Passport
2. Visas
3. National IDs
4. Travel Insurance Documents
5. Flight/ Rail Tickets
6. Hotel Reservation
7. Credit/ Travel/ Forex Cards
8. Vaccination & Other Medical Details
9. Driving Licenses

An IATA analysis of 2016 says that 60,000 travelers are turned back at destinations or transfer points by immigration authorities each year. This cost the world’s airlines a substantial amount of money in fines and associated expenses. At an average of $3,500 per passenger, these fines are colossal. Airlines have to fly the traveller back to their country of origin at their own expense, occupying the seat on a fight that they could have otherwise sold to a revenue generating passenger.

It’s not just the airlines, travellers too end up paying a large price for such mistakes. These breaches, when they occur, could end up being costly for future travels of the traveller. Visa denials to the same destination in future is such a possibility. Hence, it is in the best interest of travellers to verify their documents before commencing a trip.

How can businesses ensure effective document verification for its busy employees?

The traditional method has been to trust the expertise of the travel agent. But as we have seen in the quoted story, this is not always effective.

One way to save the day is to have a smart booking tool fortified with features for identifying travel document requirements of the traveller. The tool can throw up a checklist for the travel and examine available travel documents to flag any risks related to the proposed travel. The challenge with this approach is the required knowledge of applicable rules and regulations. This information is so scattered across multiple sources such as various government repositories that creating a consolidated view is extremely difficult.

Are there any such consolidated sources? The answer is yes. IATA’s TIMATIC database allows travelers to check the document requirements for different global destinations. TravelDoc is another such tool. These tools are used by airlines and travel agents across the world. Considering today’s connected environment and the personal stakes of the traveller in case of a breach, it is time to provide these services direct to the traveller.

A smart corporate travel booking tool should have the provision to validate the existence of all mandatory documents for business travel, flag associated risks, issue applicable reminders and alerts so as to ensure that the traveller and the travel manager are aware of the compliance at all times. Today the cost of integration with such tools can be quite high, making it a challenging proposition for smaller organizations without necessary resources. Models of collective bargaining needs to evolve to make such integrations a reality.

The primary goal of a corporate booking tool is to simplify the travel booking process end to end. When this simplification encompasses even pre-trip checklists such as travel documents, it creates a smooth and seamless path for travelers, making travel happier, assured and all the more exciting.