Thailand has topped the list of overseas destinations where Australians make more calls for help than any other country in the past year.

According to SmartTraveller’s Consular State of Play 2023-24 report, more than 15,000 Australians required consular and crisis assistance while overseas in the 12-month period.

That was a 7 per cent jump on the previous financial year.

Of the requests in 2023-2024, 827 came from travellers to Thailand.

SmartTravellers warns people to “exercise a high degree of caution in Thailand overall” due to security and safety risks because of “ongoing risks of low-level insurgent activity, including terrorism”.

“Our data also shows DFAT’s Consular Emergency Centre answered 53,137 calls,” Smart Traveller said in the report.

“This was on average, one call for help every 10 minutes.”

Thailand topped the list of countries where Aussies needed consular support. Photo: SmartTraveller

Thailand topped the list for deaths overseas, arrests, immigration detention and illnesses or hospitalisation.

A 35-year-old Australian man was stabbed to death at a popular holiday spot in Thailand in July.

The country has made a targeted effort since the Covid-19 pandemic to attract Australian tourists, aiming for more than 500,000 or 95 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

The country is expected to welcome 35 million tourists to destinations such as Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai.

In the overall statistics, illness and hospitalisation (21 per cent), arrests (17 per cent) and drug-related arrests (23 per cent) all had significant jumps on the previous year’s statistics.

Other countries in the top 10 for consular assistance included Indonesia (546), Philippines (528), the US (483), Occupied Palestinian Territories (378), Vietnam (366), China (309), Japan (299), India (254) and Italy (240).

Overseas crisis

There were 1919 consular cases involving the death of a person travelling or living overseas in the 2023-24 financial year, outnumbered only by the 2840 cases of welfare or other serious matters.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it offered a range of consular services for Australian citizens travelling or living overseas.

“We deliver our services through Australian embassies, high commissions and consulates overseas,” DFAT said.

“We only provide consular services to Australian permanent residents in the event of a crisis overseas. This may include government-assisted evacuations when provided to Australian citizens.”

In the latest data, 1356 cases involved illness or hospitalisation, while 865 involved arrests and 328 whereabouts cases.

Nearly 2000 Australians died while living in or visiting overseas countries in the last financial year. Photo: SmartTraveller

The number of lost and stolen passports increased by 28 per cent compared to the previous year – attributed at least partly to the rise in the number of Australians travelling post-pandemic.

“The number of lost and stolen passport cases overseas increased significantly compared to 2022-23,” SmartTraveller said.

“There were 2678 passports reported lost overseas and 1942 passports reported stolen overseas in 2023–24.”

Aussies took more than 11 million overseas trips in the year to June, a 32 per cent jump on the same period in 2023.

Travel advice

Along with the latest numbers, SmartTraveller also provided advice for avoiding becoming one of them in 2024-2025.

“Never carry, buy or use illegal drugs overseas, and don’t carry bags for others if you don’t know what’s in them,” it said in regards to drug-related arrest cases.

“Make sure your medications are legal where you’re going, including over-the-counter medicines.”

Other advice included keeping valuable items safe and being aware of surroundings to prevent theft, always getting comprehensive travel insurance and never leaving a passport as a security deposit with a hire company or accommodation provider.

The top five destinations for travel advice were Indonesia with 1.16 million pageviews, Japan with 396,994, Vietnam with 384,164, Thailand with 367,424 and Egypt with 364,755, according to SmartTraveller.