Europe, is it safe to travel to? A Guest Blog

A GUEST BLOG BY FELLOW BLOGGER, ANALOGUE JOHN

As a citizen of Europe and a recent visitor to the beautiful city of Rome I have kindly been given the opportunity to reply to the aforementioned question, which was posed recently by the good lad that runs this blog – Priambl. We’ve been talking back and forth about some collaborative blogs and I’m delighted the first couple are now written.

In answering this question I hope to give balance and perspective to potential travellers across the globe, who may have understandable concerns given recent high profile events on our Continent, which sadly now even includes Catalans daubing anti-tourist slogans on buildings and attacking a tour bus.

Brief History

For younger generations, like millennials, it may seem like terror attacks in Western Europe are a relatively new phenomenon. For anyone a little older it’ll be more apparent that they are not. In many countries the threat has always been there.

France and Spain suffered numerous attacks from Basque separatist groups over the decades. The United Kingdom also suffered many mainland attacks and bomb threats from the Irish Republican Army. In Italy, between 1974 and 1990 there were 212 attacks from the Red Brigades alone.

It’s nothing new

Generally speaking, between 1970-1990 more people were killed each year in Western Europe in terror related incidents than were each year between 2000-2016. Surprised?

Perspective

To some extent all a terrorist has to do to succeed is to instil a sense of fear in the general population and create divides. To that end it’s difficult to deny they have been somewhat successful. Otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this blog.

Terrorism in Europe has killed approximately 11,288 people in the 47 years since 1970. That’s about 240 a year.

However, over 20,000 die each year on Europe’s roads in traffic incidents. Pause and think about that for a minute.

The population of the EU is about 740 million. The numbers killed above, though each one is a tragedy, are a tiny percentage of the population.

Comparing it to the USA, which has relatively few actual ‘terror’ attacks, the total number of deaths from gunfire in the USA between 1968-2014 stands at over 1,500,000. This figure is more than three times greater than the total number of American deaths during World War Two.

I accept these figures are not direct comparisons – but Europe does not have the same problem with gun related deaths that the USA does. In fact, very few advanced economies do.

Europe’s Response

As an example, in response to the latest threats the Italian Government has put in place in Rome are very reassuring. I walked around Rome in July 2017. There was a very heavy Police and Army presence. In fact, I’ve never seen anything like it anywhere in Western Europe.

I saw Police with machine guns outside every tourist attraction. I saw Police with machine guns inside every metro station. I saw armed officers patrolling the city on foot and in vehicles. I saw armed officers at static points across the city.

It was a huge show of force from the Italian authorities, who are on a high state of alert.

Any would be attacker would likely have been killed very quickly.

Governments across Europe have implemented similar responses and well armed officers are becoming a normal sight for many Europeans.

Even in the UK, which has staunchly attempted to resist arming it’s Police, armed officers are becoming a more normal sight. Particularly around major cities and vulnerable locations and infrastructure.

Should You Travel?

I really hope the foregoing has given a sense of perspective.

If you’re thinking of travelling to Europe please remember you’re less likely to be a victim of a terror attack in Europe now than you were in the 1970s and 1980s! If you’re American you’re also far less likely to got shot in Europe than you are in your own country.

Where you travel to is ultimately a decision only you can make. Nowhere is ever 100% safe. However, if you really want to go somewhere, you should.

In direct answer to the question. Yes, Europe is safe…just take care on the roads.

#TouristsWelcome

You can find Analogue John on Twitter @AnalogueJohn – ‘Travel. Mindfulness. Photography. Vintage.‘ and check out his website www.analoguejohn.com for travel articles, tips, and my own guest blog post on the topic of: Traveller or Tourist?

All photographs and content in their entirety were provided by Analogue John.