PMCI - October 2014

Travel Association. Likewise, holiday
destinations have become ever more
exotic as couples and families seek to
escape the crowds and find themselves
that unforgettable pearl not yet “spoiled”
by the mass market.
Pandering to this, too often the economists will package
countries as “emerging” or “frontier markets” and Travel
Agents will coo over yet another palm-fringed paradise,
with no indication of the civil and societal challenges these
destinations face; their huge imbalances of wealth, high
unemployment and disillusioned youth, embedded corruption
and maladministration, the lack of transport and health
infrastructure. All those factors that make visiting them not
simply challenging, but potentially hazardous. That is where
people like me come in.
In an ideal world, we are employed to ensure problems
The endless search for alpha
takes business into ever more
obscure, dangerous reaches
of the planet, where the lure
of a first-mover advantage
can outweigh concerns for
personal safety.
never arise. In this world, we are sadly too often employed
once things have already gone beyond the point of no return.
In the first half of this year alone, risk management firms
have assisted hundreds of clients in crisis situations, from
Latin and Central America to Africa, the Ukraine and
the Middle East. Civil unrest in Venezuela; tourist
attacks in Kenya; foreign missions evacuating from
Libya; separatism in the Ukraine; indiscriminate
violence in Israel and Gaza; a coup in Thailand;
street protests in Hong Kong; drug-related violence
in Mexico; an Ebola virus in west Africa… As well
as the catastrophic impact on local populations, these
events in the past few months have caused a series of
knock-on risk management related issues for thousands
of foreign tourists and expatriate personnel.
Apart from direct physical risk, being on the ground
increases the chances of cancellation of flights and
legally questionable detention.
Yet the world keeps on turning and you have to
keep on travelling further afield. China is likely to
surpass the United States in business travel spending
by 2016. In such an interconnected world, it is essential
not to leave your trip planning to somebody
else. You have to be involved in how you are going
to manage your own and your family’s safety. The
purpose of this article is to try and provide a few
things to think about before you leave, so that you
don’t ever have to face a worst-case scenario when
you’re abroad.
Logistics
Just like the Private Equity industry, think in
terms of “exits”. If you know your route into a country,
you should plan your route out simultaneously
and give yourself plenty of backup exits and means
of transport, if the primary route fails.
Do your homework before you travel and make
your baseline the advice of your Foreign Ministry,
which will likely have a presence on the ground.
Understand the kind of terrain you will be travelling
to and through; the tragic loss of MH017 is a harsh
reminder that even the skies are not secure. Check
the safety record of the airline you are travelling with
and the route it will fly. What is the age of its fleet,
for example?