Tourista, food poisoning, gastroenteritis… the American magazine Forbes has compiled a ranking of holiday destinations where there is the greatest risk of falling ill.
- Forbes magazine has ranked the tourist cities where there is the greatest risk of falling ill.
- Globally, Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) is the city where there is the highest risk of catching a disease.
- At European level, the city where the greatest number of travelers can fall ill is Benidorm in Spain.
Fine sandy beaches, exotic landscapes, turquoise waters, historical monuments… tourist destinations do not fail to highlight their assets. While for many travelers their holidays live up to the photos, others have far less idyllic stays due to their encounter with local bacteria or viruses.
The experts of forbes magazine analyzed more than 2.4 million posts on popular travel forums to determine which ones contain keywords such as “salmonella”, “gastroenteritis”, “e-coli” and “food poisoning”. These data were cross-referenced with the recommendations of the American authorities concerning the health security of countries such as the vaccines to be given or the risks of malaria. They were thus able to establish the Forbes Advisor Travel Bug Indexwhich lists the destinations where there is the highest risk of falling ill.
Top 5 international destinations where there is the highest risk of being sick
Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic attracts many tourists… But despite its palm-lined beaches and tropical weather, the city earns the coveted title of “destination where there is the greatest risk of catching a virus” with a score “ travel bug” of 90.4/100. Nearly 10% of travel forum users complain of having contracted infections such as tourista or salmonellosis while on vacation. On its website, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recalls that in this country it is necessary, among other things, to drink only encapsulated drinks and to ensure the quality of food as well as its cooking to avoid digestive contamination.
Second place goes to Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt) with a score of 83.5. Before traveling to the country, it is recommended “to be up to date with their usual vaccinations”. The diphtheria-tetanus-poliomyelitis (DTP) vaccine is recommended as well as that of rubella-mumps-measles (for children). Sal in Cape Verde is on the 3rd step with an infectious risk score of 70.6.
Playa del Carmen and Cabo San Lucas – both Mexican cities – ranked 4th and 5th in the international rankings, both scoring 63/100.
Paris: 4th European city to make tourists sick
Europe is a rather safe destination for the health of tourists. The first European city pinned by Forbes is actually 17th out of 25 worldwide. This is Benidorm in Spain. Its score is 26.4 out of 100 according to the Travel Bug Index. It is followed by London (21.7/100 and 21st worldwide) and Sunny Beach (Slanchev Briag) in Bulgaria (21.5/100 and 22nd). The French capital is 4th in Europe, but 24ᵉ in the world with a score of 19.4 out of 100. The European top ends with Tenerife in Spain (19.3 and 25th in the world).
