Six leading causes of tourist deaths, and how to avoid trouble in paradise

Travelling the globe can be a dangerous business, or so it seems. Fear-mongering lists count down the world’s 50 most dangerous cities and the website touristkilled.com records a steady stream of deaths, attacks and robberies.

Lonely Planet recommends wearing shoes when plugging in appliances in Liberia, as electric shocks occur frequently in badly wired buildings. The guidebook publisher also warns against stepping off roads and marked trails in Cambodia, Bosnia and Mozambique due to unexploded landmines. Sunbathing on tropical beaches increases the risk of being hit on the head by a coconut – although you’d have to be extremely unlucky, and that’s the point.

Murders in cities considered dangerous are invariably the result of drug-related score-settling rather than gang members shooting tourists in cold blood. Of the 20 countries in the world with the highest murder rates, 17 are in Latin America, yet, according to Lonely Planet, one of the greatest threats to travellers in those lands is from fiesta fireworks. And despite perceptions to the contrary, terrorism disproportionately affects Muslims heading to, returning from, or praying at the local mosque. One life insurance company puts the chances of being killed in a terrorist attack at about one in 20 million and suggests you’re more likely to be fatally crushed by your own furniture.

If you’re still concerned about safety overseas, consider this, from a review of the US State Department’s registry of deaths abroad: over the past 13 years, an average of 827 Americans have died overseas of unnatural causes each year. To put the figure in context, 80 million Americans travelled abroad in 2017.

So, statistics are on your side but if you’re curious, here are some of the most common ways tourists kick the bucket while checking off their bucket lists.