NEWS

(Lebanon, N.H. – April 11, 2024) – Global Rescue, the world's leading provider of medical, security, evacuation and travel risk management services, has deployed a team of specialists to Nepal to perform rescue operations during the Mount Everest 2024 spring climbing season where a record number of rescues are expected.

Record-breaking crowds are expected to converge on the Himalayan region. "About 600 climber permits have been issued for Mount Everest, a 30% increase over last year's record of 463 permits distributed," said Dan Stretch, a Global Rescue operations manager coordinating rescue activities for Nepal during the Mount Everest climbing season. Stretch has performed more than 500 evacuations and crisis response operations in the Himalayas.

Adding to the potentially crowded conditions on Mount Everest will be an additional 100 mountaineers attempting to summit from the Tibetan side. "For the first time in several years, Chinese authorities have opened up the Tibet side to 100 climbers. When you consider that each climber generally comes with support personnel and climbing sherpas there will likely be close to 2,000 people climbing Mount Everest this season," Stretch said.

Crowded conditions can lead to an increase in rescue operations. "Overcrowding at high altitudes means more mountaineers exposed for prolonged periods in the death zone, and that increases the likelihood of climbers experiencing altitude sickness, frostbite and exhaustion," Stretch said.

"During the two-month 2024 Mount Everest spring climbing season, there will usually be several rescue operations performed each day, keeping the deployment team busy from before dawn until nearly midnight. The busiest time is the two-week Mount Everest summit window when the medical and rescue operations team performs up to 25 rescues a day," Stretch said.

Recovering climbers and trekkers is much more than a high-altitude mountain chopper rescue. Performing a rescue includes helicopter and ambulance transports, hospital admissions and looking after individuals admitted to a hospital for care. "The Global Rescue deployment team members are located in multiple areas to support individuals throughout their rescue, transport, recovery and safe return home," Stretch said.

Airborne helicopter rescues will be a challenge this year, according to Stretch. "Due to several crashes in the past few years, the Nepalese civil aviation authorities are limiting pilots' daily flying hours. It's an important factor. Climbers should train and prepare to rely on themselves in the event helicopter rescues are limited," Stretch advised.

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Contact Bill McIntyre at bmcintyre@globalrescue.com or 202.560.1195 (phone/text) for more information.

About Global Rescue

Global Rescue is the world's leading provider of medical, security, evacuation and travel risk management services to enterprises, governments and individuals. Founded in 2004, Global Rescue has exclusive relationships with the Johns Hopkins Emergency Medicine Division of Special Operations and Elite Medical Group. Global Rescue provides best-in-class services that identify, monitor and respond to client medical and security crises. Global Rescue has provided medical and security support to its clients, including Fortune 500 companies, governments and academic institutions, during every globally significant crisis of the last two decades. For more information, visit www.globalrescue.com.

(Lebanon, N.H. – March 19, 2024) The Global Rescue Intelligence Delivery system (GRID 2.0) that places critical travel intelligence in the hands of leisure and business travelers was named to Fast Company’s prestigious list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies of 2024.

“Our list of the Most Innovative Companies is both a comprehensive look at the innovation economy and a snapshot of the business trends that defined the year,” said Fast Company editor-in-chief Brendan Vaughan.

The GRID 2.0 system distributes targeted notifications and alerts to individuals who could be impacted by events including civil unrest, disease-related developments, safety issues, transportation disruptions, communications blackouts, and natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and volcanic activity.

“It is the world’s only integrated medical and security mobile app for travel risk, asset tracking, intelligence delivery and crisis response management. Last year more than a million targeted event alerts were distributed to individuals who could be affected by more than 10,000 global events reported,” said Dan Richards, CEO of The Global Rescue Companies, the world’s leading provider of medical, security, evacuation and travel risk management services. 

As leisure and business travel increase globally, so do the challenges to balance safety in the face of travel disruptions from extreme weather, flooding threats and transportation delays as well as threats of international violent conflicts, terrorism and civil unrest. Most travelers lack immediate access to travel intelligence information or communication capabilities that may be lifesaving in the event of a medical or security emergency.

“Global Rescue's GRID 2.0 changes that. In an emergency, the GRID 2.0 app puts its users in immediate contact with the medical teams and military special operations veterans who staff Global Rescue's Global Operations Centers,” said Harding Bush, associate director for Global Rescue security operations.

The GRID 2.0 system is comprised of two parts to reduce traveler risk. The Individual Traveler Mobile App and the Desktop Administrator Control Center work together to help individuals, organizations, companies and universities protect, track and communicate with remote travelers, employees and students.   

Travelers using the GRID 2.0 Individual Traveler Mobile App can research medical and security risks by destination, obtain automatic Destination Reports, receive active security alerts including analysis and advice, connect for GPS "check-ins" with real-time location tracking, and stay in touch with in-app communications both internally and with Global Rescue.  

Administrators managing the GRID 2.0 Desktop Administrator Control Center receive comprehensive situational awareness of global risks 24/7/365, monitor real-time global threats and analysis with Event Alerts, audit a dynamic global risk map to identify regions of increased risk, manage communications using the in-app messaging that allows direct contact with individual or group GRID 2.0 Mobile App users. 

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Contact Bill McIntyre at bmcintyre@globalrescue.com or +1 (202) 560-1195 (phone/text) for more information.  

About Global Rescue   

The Global Rescue Companies are the world's leading provider of medical, security, evacuation and travel risk management services to enterprises, governments and individuals. Founded in 2004, Global Rescue has exclusive relationships with the Johns Hopkins Emergency Medicine Division of Special Operations and Elite Medical Group. Global Rescue provides best-in-class services that identify, monitor and respond to client medical and security crises. Global Rescue has provided medical and security support to its clients, including Fortune 500 companies, governments and academic institutions, during every globally significant crisis of the last two decades. For more information, visit www.globalrescue.com.

About Fast Company

Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication Inc., and can be found online at www.fastcompany.com.

(Lebanon, N.H. – February 26, 2024) Overpacking is by far the biggest traveler mistake, according to the world’s most experienced travelers responding to the 2024 Winter Global Rescue Traveler Sentiment and Safety Survey. More than a third of respondents (35%) said overpacking was their biggest travel mistake.

Harding Bush, associate director of operations at Global Rescue, advises travelers to “pack light, and buy what you need there.” While overpacking continues to be a persistent traveler mistake, the improvement has been substantial since February 2020, immediately before the pandemic when three-out-of-four survey respondents (75%) said overpacking was the biggest mistake travelers make.

Ambitious itineraries and failing to schedule free time during trips are frequent mistakes among travelers. In 2020, before the pandemic, 40% of respondents admitted creating ambitious itineraries that did not include free time landed in second place on the list of biggest traveler mistakes. Last year, the percentage decreased and only 28% of respondents said their itineraries were too ambitious and they did not plan or schedule free time. In 2024, significant improvement continues. According to the survey results, only 9% said having an overly ambitious itinerary was their biggest mistake, placing third on the list of top 10 traveler mistakes.

Bush advises travelers to plan a trip that aligns with your travel style and interests, making sure to prioritize what is important to you. “You don’t need to do what others say to do. But you must accept that you won’t see everything and that is okay,” he said.

While overpacking and ambitious travel itineraries remain among the top mistakes travelers make, the percentage of people making those errors is dropping meaningfully. But other mistakes abound, some familiar and a few new ones.

Today, the second most reported traveler mistake was flying with connections instead of nonstop, an error that had not made the list in any past survey. Twelve percent of survey respondents said air travel that required stopovers or layovers was an error to avoid in the future. Despite the inconvenience of airline travel staff shortages, most survey respondents (66%) did not cancel any trips in 2023 and more than a third (38%) did not postpone any travel plans.

Before the pandemic, more than a third of travelers (38%) reported that forgetting to obtain medical or security travel protection was their biggest mistake, ranking third in the top 10 most common mistakes made by travelers. In 2024, the percentage of travelers who said they forgot to get medical or security travel protection plummeted to 1%, placing tenth on the list.

Forgetting an international plug adapter, leaving prescription medicine behind, failing to change phone data plan, and drinking or using unsafe water have each remained on the top 10 list of biggest traveler mistakes since before the pandemic, all garnering low, single-digit responses.

###Contact Bill McIntyre at bmcintyre@globalrescue.com or +1 (202) 560-1195 (phone/text) for more information.

About the Global Rescue Traveler Sentiment and Safety Survey

Global Rescue, the leading travel risk and crisis response provider, surveyed more than 1,500 of its current and former members between January 25-30, 2024. The respondents revealed a variety of behaviors, attitudes and preferences regarding current and future travel.

About Global Rescue

The Global Rescue Companies are the world's leading provider of medical, security, evacuation and travel risk management services to enterprises, governments and individuals. Founded in 2004, Global Rescue has exclusive relationships with the Johns Hopkins Emergency Medicine Division of Special Operations and Elite Medical Group. Global Rescue provides best-in-class services that identify, monitor and respond to client medical and security crises. Global Rescue has provided medical and security support to its clients, including Fortune 500 companies, governments and academic institutions, during every globally significant crisis of the last two decades. For more information, visit www.globalrescue.com.

(Lebanon, N.H. – February 21, 2024) Civil unrest and terrorism are travelers’ leading fears, surpassing accidents or injuries and marking a dramatic attitudinal shift since spring 2023, according to the world’s most experienced travelers responding to the Winter 2024 Global Rescue Traveler Sentiment and Safety Survey. More than a third of travelers (36%) reported civil unrest and terrorism are the biggest concerns during global trips, reflecting a three-fold increase compared to spring 2023. A quarter of respondents (25%) said having an accident or illness during a trip was their greatest fear, a significant decrease from spring 2023 when half of travelers (50%) reported suffering an injury or getting sick was their biggest concern. “We’re seeing an understandable increase in traveler concern worldwide. Nevertheless, international trip takers continue to travel anyway despite the rising threats of civil unrest, war, and terrorism,” said Dan Richards, CEO of The Global Rescue Companies, the world’s leading provider of medical, security, evacuation and travel risk management services, and a member of the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board at the U.S. Department of Commerce. Travelers are beefing up their trip protection with security advisory and extraction protection. A third of respondents (34%) said the war in Ukraine, the Hamas attacks on Israel or other violent conflicts make it more likely they will add security extraction and advisory protection to their travel protection package. “Traveler uncertainty generally increases traveler demand for emergency medical and security services,” Richards said. “Last year, traveler purchases of security and extraction services increased by 36%, and we expect that will continue in 2024. We’ve seen this traveler behavior since the war in Ukraine, and we’re seeing it continue following the attacks on Israel.” While civil unrest, terrorism, accidents and illnesses top the list of traveler fears, the survey revealed other concerns. Trip cancellation, robbery or theft garnered between 7-9% of responses. Testing positive for COVID (or its variants) and natural disasters each collected 5% of responses. Nuclear disasters collected <1% of responses.

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Contact Bill McIntyre at bmcintyre@globalrescue.com or +1 (202) 560-1195 (phone/text) for more information. About the Global Rescue Traveler Sentiment and Safety Survey  Global Rescue, the leading travel risk and crisis response provider, surveyed more than 1,500 of its current and former members between January 25-30, 2024. The respondents revealed a variety of behaviors, attitudes and preferences regarding current and future travel. About Global Rescue   The Global Rescue Companies are the world's leading provider of medical, security, evacuation and travel risk management services to enterprises, governments and individuals. Founded in 2004, Global Rescue has exclusive relationships with the Johns Hopkins Emergency Medicine Division of Special Operations and Elite Medical Group. Global Rescue provides best-in-class services that identify, monitor and respond to client medical and security crises. Global Rescue has provided medical and security support to its clients, including Fortune 500 companies, governments and academic institutions, during every globally significant crisis of the last two decades. For more information, visit www.globalrescue.com.