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Irene Jay Liu

August's deadly hostage attack in Manila drew international attention to the issue of safety for tourists in the Philippines.
And while it has been acknowledged as a rare tragedy, a security expert says that there are universal precautions travellers should take.  
'Travellers should educate themselves on the hazards of their favourite holiday destinations,'  Simon Francis,  senior director of security services at Kroll,  a risk consultancy company,  said.
'The Philippines has quite a significant gun culture. There are a lot of people with firearms, many of which are not registered, and therefore, untraceable,' he said. 
Francis said for most places in Asia, the safety risks  had remained relatively unchanged over time, but noted that in southern areas of Thailand and the Philippines, separatist movements and quasi-terrorist groups  posed a risk of kidnappings and attacks.
As the war on terrorism had escalated, countries such as Singapore and Malaysia had cracked down on terrorist activity and it was believed some terrorists had  gone to the southern Philippines, where there had been isolated attacks at resorts.
Francis noted the differences between business travellers and tourists. 
'Business travellers attract a different kind of attention. Generally, business  travellers will not be going to tourist areas - they will be  travelling to places off the beaten track.'  
When  travelling to high-risk areas, Francis said, companies should consider employing security firms and develop an extraction plan for their employees. In contrast, tourists are far more likely to be the victims of petty crime such as pickpocketing.  
'Those going after business  travellers are most often targeted incidents, while those going after tourists are usually for quick pickings,' he said. 
Francis said  organised tours  were generally safer, but  in any case tourists  needed to take precautions to avoid becoming victims of crime, as well as having the resources in the event of an emergency. 
Even if a tour had a blanket insurance policy, tourists were encouraged to buy individual travel  policies and ensure that the policy covered everything from petty crime to terrorist attacks. 
'It's best to invest in that safety net,' Francis said. 
Tour operators can do their part to reduce risk by training their tour guides to be vigilant about strangers hanging around the tour group.
The Egyptian tourism board, for example,  trained operators to be aware of their surroundings, he said. 
The Tourism Industry Council of Hong Kong provides training courses for both local tour guides as well as 'escorts' who travel on tours to foreign countries.
 A council spokeswoman said that there  was no specific course, 'but we do mention how to handle some emergency cases and how they should handle the situation if they encounter any dangerous or serious considerations'. 
 But for people who want to learn more aggressive techniques in case of the rare hostage situation,  courses in  self-defence and anti-hostage/ kidnapping techniques are available in Hong Kong, run by the local chapter of Krav-Maga, a self-defence system used by the Israeli  Defence Force. 
The  programme teaches martial arts-style techniques that can be used by men and women in self-defence, with particular focus on improving physical fitness, self-confidence and aggression in the face of an attack, instructor Joseph Lee says.
The group hosted a one-day seminar in Hong Kong this month that  focused on both travel planning, as well as teaching  self-defence techniques and how to disarm an attacker. 
In the case of the Manila incident, hostage victim Lee Ying-chuen  regretted that she had not known how to disarm the hostage-taker in the tragedy during which eight Hong Kong tourists died.  
However, some of the tourists appeared to have been killed when they tried to disarm the hostage-taker, according to  other passengers on the bus.  
Francis  said while martial arts and self-defence courses were helpful, travellers should be wary of becoming overconfident. 
'The physical fitness and confidence to be gained from martial arts can  be helpful. That said, overconfidence can get you into trouble.'



Tourists told to be prepared when travelling