Safer Tourism Foundation

The Safer Tourism Foundation is an independent charity working to save lives and prevent serious harm and injury to UK travellers, at home and abroad.

Our aim is to help ensure everyone who travels on holiday, at home in the UK or abroad, stays safe and well. We are an independent foundation, led by a Board of Trustees and we do not represent a specific constituency or interest group.

We want to reduce the health and safety risks affecting people travelling abroad. Our remit encompasses all of the potential risks to health and wellbeing that travellers face while on holiday. This includes risks related to transport, water based activities, allergic reactions, slips, trips and falls and personal safety.

We are practical in our approach, driven by evidence, and determined to find pragmatic solutions that work. We welcome collaboration with all others who share our aim.

The Foundation was established in 2016, ten years after the deaths of two children, Bobby and Christi Shepherd, who died from carbon monoxide poisoning whilst on holiday in Corfu in 2006. Bobby and Christi’s mother, Sharon Wood, worked with the travel industry to develop the Safer Tourism Foundation, as a positive legacy from this tragedy. Thomas Cook provided the initial funding for the charity.

What we do:

We are driven by evidence.
We’re focused on building an evidence base over time, collecting safety incident data in collaboration with the travel industry, to understand the root causes of preventable harm, injuries, illnesses and deaths. We use this information to create awareness and encourage actions to minimise risks when travelling.

We champion industry collaboration.
We work in partnership with travel companies, tourism destinations and others, sharing learnings and influencing where relevant to effect practical changes which improve the health and safety of travellers, without negatively impacting local communities or residents.

We go beyond simple awareness raising.
We want travellers to be aware of potential risks, while also enhancing their ability to make decisions that will help keep them safe and healthy when travelling. We know raising awareness alone doesn’t change behaviour. We use behavioural science techniques to influence meaningful behavioural change.

Our role is about connecting the dots.
We build on our broad understanding of safety data, systems and traveller concerns to create practical content and facilitate meaningful collaboration across all parts of the travel ecosystem.

We developed the Safer Tourism Pledge to identify and recognise those travel operators who adhere to excellent standards of safety management. The Pledge is a set of commitments which articulate support for the charity’s aims and an intent to work with us to improve the health and safety of tourists.

The Pledge is designed to offer travellers additional confidence about their chosen travel company’s approach to customer health, safety and wellbeing. It also acts as a prompt to remind travellers of their own responsibilities when it comes to their health and safety while travelling.

We are delighted that a number of leading UK travel companies have committed their support through the Pledge.