A new study has ranked 39 popular travel destinations around the world to see which has the highest rate of pickpockets and scams.
The travel insurance experts at Compare the Market Australia conducted the study to index which cities are hotspots as shown by tourist review data.
The survey revealed that tourists in European cities had the highest usage, taking four spots in the top five, while Orlando and Las Vegas are the scam capitals of America.
Paris came top, recording the second highest mugging and robbery anxieties (a rating of 60.74 out of a possible 100), as well as the most pickpocket and scam related keyword mentions on travel forums, with 25.00 mentions per one-million tourists.
Barcelona came in second, with the second highest total pickpocket and scam keyword mentions per million at 17.82. Of note, Barcelona received the highest amount of ‘theft’ mentions on travel forums at 3.45 per one-million visitors.
London placed as third on the index, with a much lower rate of keyword mentions than the previous entries, with only 8.90 total mentions per one-million visitors. However, the city performed poorly in mugging and robbery anxieties with a rating of 58.19 out of 100.
In fourth place was Rome, with the third highest keyword density, at a rate of 17.36 total keyword mentions per 1,000,000 tourists. Las Vegas rounded out the top five as the only non-European city.
Adrian Taylor, Compare the Market’s Executive General Manager of General Insurance, said it was important to ensure your travel insurance covers passport and valuables when you’re on holiday.
“From pickpockets to just pure forgetfulness, you can never be too careful with your valuables, especially your passport and other important travel documents, when you travel overseas,” said Mr Taylor.
“If your items are lost due to theft, your documents may be replaced, or you could be reimbursed for the cost of replacements up to the policy limit.
“However, losing your items due to negligence will likely lead to a rejected claim, so it’s important to ensure that you keep your items safe with you at all times.
“Keeping your items in secure bags on your person rather than in your pockets is a great way to further decrease the likelihood of your items being stolen.”
https://www.comparethemarket.com.au/travel-insurance/features/pickpocketing-and-scam-hotspots/
