Wondering where you might be able to plan safe international travels for 2022? Specialized insurance provider Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection (BHTP) has taken out the guesswork in the course of compiling its seventh annual State of Travel Insurance report.
Each year, taking into account all kinds of potential safety hazards-including, obviously, pandemic-related concerns over the past couple of years-Berkshire Hathaway produces its list of the safest places to travel worldwide. It evaluates such safety concerns as terrorism threats, weather impacts, health measures, and the safety of women and minorities.
BHTP's findings are based on data from several third-party sources, in combination with survey responses from thousands of travelers who've visited these destinations firsthand. The third-party sources consulted include indices and information from the Global Peace Index, GeoSure Global, the U.S. State Department's travel safety ratings and COVID-19 statistics from Our World in Data (an Oxford University initiative).
This year, everything from COVID-19 to staffing and equipment, weather and global warming factored prominently into the weighted score assigned to each destination. The report ranks the top 10 safest counties to travel to right now, as well as the top 10 safest cities around the globe.
World's Top 10 Safest Countries:
1. Iceland
2. New Zealand
3. Canada
4. Sweden
5. Japan
6. Australia
7. Switzerland
8. Ireland
9. Germany
10. United Kingdom
To determine the world's top 10 safest cities for travel this year, a selection of the most popular major cities around the globe were culled from sources like Expedia and American Express Travel, ultimately narrowing down to 23. That group was held up against third-party input from GeoSure Global, The Economist's Safe Cities Index and Numbeo's current crime index.
World's Top 10 Safest Cities:
1. Montreal
2. Amsterdam
3. Tokyo
4. Singapore
5. Sydney
6. London
7. Barcelona
8. Hong Kong
9. Berlin
10. Rome
BHTP's State of Travel Insurance research also posed questions to survey participants regarding what they perceived to be the top safety threats posed by travel in 2022. Fifty-six percent of respondents said disease outbreaks were a top threat, while 51 percent pointed to international terrorism.
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