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Travel Risk

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What is Travel Risk Management?

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Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Executive Summary

  • What TRM is: Travel Risk Management (TRM) is the structured practice of anticipating, preventing, and responding to health, safety, and security risks that affect employees, contractors, and business travelers. 
  • Why it matters now: With the rise of global “permacrisis” conditions, health emergencies, geopolitical instability, and extreme weather, TRM has become essential for ensuring resilience and Duty of Care. 
  • Business benefit: A strong TRM program protects people, reduces legal and financial exposure, and sustains business continuity while giving employees confidence to travel. 

Introduction to Travel Risk Management

Travel Risk Management is the structured practice of anticipating, preventing, and responding to health, safety, and security risks faced by employees, contractors, and business travelers.

It ensures organizations fulfill their Duty of Care obligations while protecting people and maintaining business continuity. As risks to travelers increase globally, TRM provides a framework to manage both foreseeable and unexpected threats.

Risks can include:

  • Extreme weather events (storms, wildfires, flooding)
  • Geopolitical instability (civil unrest, terrorism, conflict)
  • Health emergencies (epidemics, pandemics, medical crises)
  • Transport disruptions (airline strikes, infrastructure failures)
  • Crime or fraud targeting travelers

An effective Travel Risk Management program helps organizations:

  • Meet Duty of Care obligations and avoid legal liability
  • Safeguard employees in unpredictable environments
  • Ensure business continuity in times of disruption
  • Boost traveler confidence and willingness to travel for work
  • Comply with international standards such as ISO 31030

Why Travel Risk Management is Critical Today

Travel Risk Management is essential because the global risk landscape for business travel is more complex and unpredictable than ever.

Global mobility now operates in a “permacrisis” environment, where health emergencies, climate-driven disruptions, and geopolitical instability overlap and evolve continuously. Risk conditions can shift quickly, and even routine destinations are no longer predictably low-risk.

The map below, taken from our 2025 Risk Outlook Report, reflects this rising uncertainty. Compared to 2024, more destinations now fall into elevated and high-risk categories, indicating a broader increase in medical, environmental, and security pressures globally. This shift reinforces the need for a structured Travel Risk Management program—one that provides consistent, evidence-based decision-making and ensures travelers are prepared and supported wherever they go.  

Travel Risk Map

(Click to enlarge) 

Key forces driving this environment include:

  • Geopolitical instability: Conflicts and unrest affect even previously stable regions, disrupting flights, closing airports, and creating security risks.
  • Health crises: The COVID-19 pandemic showed how quickly mobility can be disrupted. Even now, new outbreaks and medical emergencies remain ongoing risks. 
  • Natural hazards: Hurricanes, wildfires, and flooding are more frequent, endangering travelers and delaying supply chains. 
  • Remote and hybrid work: Employees now travel from non-traditional bases, often in locations with limited visibility of local risks. 
  • Rising compliance expectations: Frameworks like ISO 31030 have raised expectations from regulators, insurers, and employees for structured TRM policies. 

Managing travel risks can no longer be reactive. It requires proactive planning, real-time monitoring, and integrated support capabilities as part of everyday travel operations.

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What Does an Effective Travel Risk Management Program Include?

An effective TRM program follows the full lifecycle of a trip: preparing travelers before departure, actively monitoring risks while they are on the move, and coordinating support if an incident occurs.  

The strongest programs also provide expert assistance, evacuation capabilities, and intelligence that enables smarter decision-making. 

A mature TRM framework is typically built around the following four pillars:

TRM Lifecycle

1. Prepare, Plan & Comply

  • Destination briefings and pre-travel guidance.
  • Health, safety, security, and cultural awareness training.
  • Clear communication of support procedures and escalation contacts.
  • Policy alignment and documentation to demonstrate compliance.

2. Monitor & Locate

  • Real-time, verified risk intelligence and alerts.
  • Ongoing monitoring of geopolitical, environmental and health developments.
  • Traveler location awareness and notification tools with privacy safeguards.
  • Tailored insights to help managers anticipate and mitigate disruptions.

3. Communicate & Respond

  • Structured crisis communication and escalation frameworks.
  • Access to medical and security support when needed.
  • Mobilization of in-country assistance resources.
  • Medical or security evacuation when required.

4. Report & Review

  • Post-incident reviews and lessons learned.
  • Documentation to support governance and audit requirements.
  • Updates to policy, training and preparation processes.

Together, these elements create a cycle of preparation, monitoring, response, and recovery, helping organizations protect employees, maintain continuity, and build resilience in an era of permacrisis.

To bring these pillars to life, organizations increasingly rely on advanced technology working hand-in-hand with expert human support.


Technology as a TRM Enabler

Modern TRM programs use technology to make each pillar more effective. From delivering real-time intelligence to ensuring fast crisis response, digital tools enhance visibility, speed, and confidence across the entire travel risk lifecycle:

  • Risk intelligence platforms: Deliver real-time alerts and destination intelligence.
  • Traveler tracking systems: Locate employees during disruptions.
  • Mobile assistance apps: Provide instant access to medical or security support.
  • Centralized dashboards: Enable reporting, compliance tracking, and integration with HR and travel systems.

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Travel Risk Management in Action: Real-World Use Cases

A well-designed TRM program isn’t theoretical—it saves lives, reduces costs, and protects reputations. Here are three common scenarios where TRM makes a measurable difference:

  • Medical Emergency Abroad: An employee travelling in Southeast Asia was seriously injured in a motorbike accident. Because the company had a TRM program in place, the employee received immediate local assistance, was transferred to a center of medical excellence for surgery, and later repatriated home to recover. The employee made a full recovery, and the company fulfilled its Duty of Care while limiting disruption.
  • Crisis-Induced Evacuation During Conflict: When military conflict erupted in North Africa, several employees on assignment needed to be evacuated urgently. With a TRM program, the company was able to track its travelers, relocate them to safe locations, and arrange onward evacuation flights. Staff were brought home safely, and business operations were able to continue with minimal reputational risk.
  • Evacuation Amid Natural Disaster: After a major earthquake struck a city in the Middle East, an employee needed to be located and moved out of the affected zone. The company’s TRM protocols enabled rapid coordination of transport to a safer city and onward flights home within 36 hours. The employee was unharmed, and the company demonstrated resilience in the face of sudden disruption.

Measuring the Success of Your TRM Program

The success of a Travel Risk Management program lies in how effectively it safeguards people and keeps business moving. Beyond simply having policies in place, organizations need to evaluate whether their TRM framework actually delivers results. This means looking at both quantitative data and qualitative feedback from travelers. 

To evaluate effectiveness, organizations often track:

  • Incident response times: how quickly employees receive support during emergencies.
  • Number of avoided disruptions: measured through the effectiveness of early alerts and risk monitoring.
  • Employee confidence and satisfaction: whether travelers feel supported and willing to travel.
  • Compliance audit results: evidence that the program aligns with Duty of Care and standards such as ISO 31030.
  • Cost savings: reductions in medical evacuations, cancelled trips, operational delays, or other high-impact incidents that proactive TRM helps prevent.
In the end, the most effective TRM programs are dynamic. They combine measurable outcomes with continuous improvement, ensuring that policies evolve in step with today’s rapidly changing global risk landscape.

Put Structure and Expert Support Behind Your Travel Risk Management Approach

Whether you're building a TRM framework for the first time or refining an existing one, the goal is the same: create a program that anticipates risks, supports travelers, and scales with your organization. Continuous improvement ensures your policies, tools, and response processes keep pace with a changing global landscape. 

With our integrated services, you don’t have to piece together risk management on your own. We provide the intelligence, technology, and global support that keep travelers protected and ensure your organization can respond smoothly when incidents occur

FAQs on Travel Risk Management

Travel Risk Management focuses specifically on keeping employees safe when they’re on the move, covering preparation, monitoring, assistance, and escalation for travel-related risks. Critical Event Management is broader. It deals with any incident that affects the organization, from security threats and natural disasters to IT outages and facility disruptions. TRM often plugs into CEM during major incidents, ensuring traveler needs are managed as part of the wider organizational response.

It provides the structure and documentation employers need to show they understand destination risks, prepare travelers, monitor conditions, and provide timely assistance. This reduces legal exposure and helps meet regulatory expectations.

It depends on how and where they operate, but most smaller organizations benefit from at least a lightweight TRM framework. Even a few international trips a year expose employees to health, safety, and security risks. A scaled approach can cover the essentials: clear policies, basic traveler preparation, reliable alerts, and access to assistance if something goes sideways. It doesn’t need to be complex, just intentional enough to keep people safe and avoid costly disruptions.

Most organizations use a mix of intelligence, communication, and support tools, but the exact setup depends on how complex their travel program is. At the core, you’ll usually see three things: a risk intelligence system that delivers credible, verified alerts; a platform that shows where travelers are in relation to emerging threats (with proper privacy safeguards, obviously); and a way to reach people fast during an incident, whether through an app, SMS, or an assistance provider. Mature TRM programs tie all of this together so managers aren’t switching between five disconnected systems when something happens.