australia: destination to die for

Published on August 19, 2004 By mignuna In Travel

by david dale at the age.com.au

every year around 370 tourists die in australia. the majority of tourists drown, are involved in car accidents or suffer heart attacks. (lovely !). and whilst crocodile attacks and ‘outback disappearances’ get the most publicity, in july and august suicide becomes a significant cause of tourist death.

more british people die here than any other nationality, but as a proportion of arrivals, male visitors from the philippines and females from italy have the highest death rates. new south wales (home state of sydney) has more tourist deaths than any other state, followed by queensland.

men are twice as likely to die on their journeys as women, and the age groups most at risk seem to be people 25 to 34 years old and those aged over 55.

the australian bureau of statistics points out that australia is actually one of the safest destinations on earth. with 5 million short-term visitors a year, the death rate is just 0.01 per cent.

"australia has high standards in public health, clean drinking water, low levels of infectious diseases, and a well-equipped and co-ordinated medical system," says the bureau.

nevertheless, 363 tourists died here in 2002, 377 died in 2000, and 371 in 1998.

the major causes were "diseases of the circulatory system" such as heart attacks or strokes (41 per cent) and external forces such as collisions and drownings (30 per cent). the bureau notes that only 6 per cent of australian deaths are caused by these external forces.

of the 2244 tourist deaths in the past six years, 22 were the result of assault, 283 were the result of transport accidents, 98 were drownings, and 45 were suicides (which tended to happen in winter, and mostly involved people aged 16 to 24).

it seems more dangerous for australians to leave the country than for foreigners to come here. australians made 3 million journeys overseas in 2002, and 681 died there.

the bureau quotes research from the 1990s that suggested that about 18 per cent of australian travellers' deaths were the result of accidents, 4 per cent murders, 4 per cent drug overdoses, and 35 per cent resulted from heart disease.

feel like popping over to visit me, anyone ?

Comments

kingbee

on Aug 19, 2004

the major causes were "diseases of the circulatory system" such as heart attacks or strokes (41 per cent) and external forces such as collisions and drownings (30 per cent). the bureau notes that only 6 per cent of australian deaths are caused by these external forces

i guess id have to shelf my dying at the keyboard plans in favor of something more umm i dunno...active? altho i really would prefer nothing involving crocks or yelling 'crikey'.

Sally jacobs

on Aug 19, 2004

Awww there goes my trip to see the 'big' things of Aussie land! Not happy!

How's your sleeping mumsy, you caught up yet ?

Many congrats on reaching the number two spot, very well deserved, it certainly is a pleasure to read all of your blogs, very proud of mumsy *hugz*

Ravenblack

on Aug 19, 2004

Morbid. But it doesn't prevent me from returning to Australia for a holiday and to visit my friends there.

mignuna

on Aug 19, 2004

i guess id have to shelf my dying at the keyboard plans in favor of something more umm i dunno...active? altho i really would prefer nothing involving crocks or yelling 'crikey'.

i'm with you there, king. or 'blimey'. or 'bugger'. both of those would be bad, too !

Awww there goes my trip to see the 'big' things of Aussie land! Not happy!

never fear, sal. mumsy will protect you !

ow's your sleeping mumsy, you caught up yet ?

hmmm. not really. feeling a bit haggard hehe

Many congrats on reaching the number two spot, very well deserved

thanks, sal. actually, that was just one of those point hikes that happen when you get a lot of referalls for something. it's bizarre to be there, but i'll enjoy it while i can !

Morbid. But it doesn't prevent me from returning to Australia for a holiday and to visit my friends there.

it is rather morbid, isn't it raven ?. hehe. i'm glad you're still going to visit australia anyway

vanessa/mig XX

Gideon MacLeish

on Aug 19, 2004

Vanessa,

True confession time: How many of those tourist heart attacks were caused by a chance encounter with the vivacious mig?

Oz is definitely on my eventual "to do" list.

mignuna

on Aug 19, 2004

True confession time: How many of those tourist heart attacks were caused by a chance encounter with the vivacious mig?

hmmm, i can't say for certain gideon, but i may have scared a few of 'em in the holiday villas to death by toddling down the road for milk at 8am with unbrushed hair and sans sunglasses hehe !

Oz is definitely on my eventual "to do" list.

please put 'emerald beach, nsw' on your destinations list then, gideon

vanessa/mig XX

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