How To Stay Safe When You Go Abroad - business travel security tips

Nation's Business, Feb, 1999 by Peter Weaver

Remaining alert and keeping a low profile are just two of the tactics for staying out of harm's way while you're traveling, security experts say.

The military action in Iraq and the bombing of U.S. embassies in Africa last year appear to have heightened business travelers' concerns about how safe they would be in certain parts of Africa, the Middle East, the Far East, and Latin America.

Despite such worries--often sparked by terrorist acts and warnings of terrorism--international security experts say U.S. business travelers' chances of getting caught up in dangerous, politically motivated conflicts are slim.

The greater risk for U.S. travelers in other countries, the experts say, is that they will become victims of local crime waves while engaging in otherwise safe activities such as threading through crowded airports, hailing taxis, or conversing with strangers.

"Be especially vigilant," for example, about carry-on luggage and briefcases at the airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the U.S. State Department says in a consular information sheet on risks to travelers in that country.

Be careful about bailing a cab in Mexico, the State Department says in an advisory. Travelers should "avoid taking any taxi not summoned by telephone or on their behalf by a responsible individual or contracted in advance at the airport," the department says in a consular information sheet.

The risks of cab rides in some foreign countries are set forth in a report by London-based Control Risks Group, an international business-security consultancy with U.S. operations headquartered in McLean, Va. The report warns that sometimes "criminals, using stolen taxis, beat victims, forcing them to withdraw money from ATMs."

Be wary of strangers while traveling abroad, security experts say "While in Asia, don't be overly trusting or chatty with friendly strangers, even Americans, because these so-called friends might be setting you up for a robbery or some sort of scam," says Christopher Rogers, president of Hawaii-based International Corporate Executive Protection. Rogers is the author of the Asia/Pacific Security Guide Book (PSI Publications, $25).

Keeping yourself safe while you're overseas depends a lot on preparing well, being circumspect, and maintaining a low profile, according to security experts, travel-industry professionals, and business people who travel abroad extensively. Following are some of their suggestions for avoiding trouble in the various phases of your trip.

Research your destination. "Become familiar with the place where you're going," says Michael Kabo, president of Solutions, Inc., a San Francisco consulting firm that specializes in travel and meeting arrangements.

"Get some maps, Kabo says, "and talk to the people you'll be visiting. You can get a lot of good inside information this way."

Eloise Weazel, vice president for administration and exports for Sunshine Industries, a Cleveland-based housewares manufacturer, says, "I get information from others who have been where I'm going by networking with colleagues in our association"--the Housewares Export Council of North America.

Make copies of your documents. Many seasoned business travelers say you should make copies of the most important pages in your passport, your credit cards, and the card issuers' toll-free phone numbers in case the cards are lost or stolen. Keep one set of copies with you, leave one set in your hotel room, and leave one at home.

Dress to be unnoticed. "I never get dressed up when I'm traveling," says Randy Petersen, publisher of InsideFlyer, a magazine for frequent travelers.

Petersen, whose firm is based in Colorado Springs, Cob., says he wears jeans, sport shoes, a sport shirt, and an obviously cheap watch when he flies abroad. "I look innocuous," he says, "not like some well-heeled American businessman--and it's a lot more comfortable."

Petersen uses a small backpack to carry his laptop computer, cellular phone, important papers, and other items he would otherwise put in a briefcase or a coat pocket.

Would-be thieves are thrown off by the backpack, he says, "because you look like a nobody, and it can fit securely on your body so you don't have to keep putting it down."

Sunshine Industries' Wenzel also uses a backpack to hide her laptop and other en-route valuables. "My backpack is my briefcase," says Wenzel, who also believes in "dressing down, no flash, no expensive jewelry"

Be watchful at the airport. Business travelers in airports make tempting targets because they're often distracted. According to a report in Business Traveler magazine, the potential dangers begin at the check-in counter, where your bags and laptop computer could be stolen while you're talking with an airline clerk.

The same type of theft can occur at a telephone bank while you're making a call and not watching your carry-ons, or it can happen in a restaurant while you leave your bags unattended to go to the buffet.

In restrooms, carry-ons placed for a moment on the floor in a stall can be snatched by an occupant of an adjacent stall who reaches under the divider.