Personal safety matters while traveling — which is why studies like the World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017, which includes rankings for the safest destinations in the world are important. Common sense and local knowledge never hurt, either.
There are some surprises on it, if not in the first spot, which was claimed by perennial safe-space Finland, which is literally one of our favorite places on Earth (saunas and vodka, anyone?) We’ve also got Iceland, Hong Kong, and the easiest, breeziest destination in Southeast Asia: Singapore.
Switzerland is safe as long as you watch where you’re hiking. Norway, ditto.
The United Arab Emirates, we guess, is safe, as long as you’re not having sex or working there as a migrant, in which case we’d say … do not do either of those things, and leave immediately.
One selection was legitimately hopeful: Rwanda, which not that long ago suffered a devastating genocide. Now, the country focuses on its rich natural features. Here’s hoping that countries now caught up in cataclysm — some of which were only recently hot tourism destinations themselves — will share a similar future (Damascus still has a Four Seasons).
And there’s at least one curious addition: Qatar. Most western travelers know Qatar from its national airline, which often offers cheap fares to Asia and Africa with pit stops in its capital, Doha. This week, though, brings querulous news. We can only wish today’s geopolitical realities won’t keep the country from providing a safe harbor — and safe home — to visitors and residents alike.
Either way, safe travels.
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