The SheTravel website was launched at an evening gathering in Fitzrovia in central London last night. Briefly, it’s a subscription service, a women-only network and online web-based forum for female travellers to share information to aid safe travel, and to ask fellow women for advice, whether while preparing for a journey or on the go.
As featured in the May print issue of Professional Security, it’s been set up by the medical and security advisory and response consultancy Northcott (NGS), by Anna-Liisa Tampuu, Head of Risk Analysis at NGS. She was featured in Professional Security magazine last year, for her female-only workshops about travel safety; which NGS still offers.
As Anna-Liisa told the gathering (pictured), the number of women travelling, whether for business or other reasons, is increasing; and so is the number of women travelling to medium or high-risk countries. So too is solo travel on the rise; and while mishaps or crime can befall men and women travellers alike, women face particular threats when travelling, such as sexual harassment, whether while actually travelling, at an airport or in a taxi, or at a hotel or out and about in the foreign destination.
Where do women turn to for advice – not only about crime risks in particular countries and cities, but for answers more mundane yet important questions such as what to do about medication or female hygiene products; and what is proper to wear in foreign cultures. Hence SheTravel; so that women travellers can enjoy what’s the very essence of good travel – being safe while experiencing new places and people, and sharing it with the like-minded.
Also speaking at the event, at the female membership club AllBright, were other women with something to say about travel, safety, and travel safety: explorer and archaeologist Ella Al-Shamahi, the security and risk mitigation consultant Caroline Neil, and the conflict management and business coach Tracey Livingston Howard.
While much of the SheTravel content requires paid membership to read, whether by an individual or a corporate for its staff, some articles are free to read, such as Anna-Liisa’s safety tips.
