Young Travellers Will Run the Gauntlet of Danger

Young Travellers Will Run the Gauntlet of All the World’s Dangers to Travel, Survey Reveals

AUCKLAND, June 30 /MediaNet International-AsiaNet/ --

Embargoed until am Tuesday, 1 July 2003

Young Kiwi’s have never been more fearful of travelling overseas – or more committed to it, according to an extensive national survey conducted by popular global travel agency, STA Travel.

The survey of 150 travellers was conducted across STA Travel’s 18 New Zealand offices in April this year.

The question ‘what are your safety fears’ identified 33 separate and specific fears that our country’s youth has about seeing the world today.

Fears range from hijacking, mugging, SARS and mosquito bites, through being killed, framed for drug trafficking and getting lost.

Yet respondents claim it will not stop them travelling.

Responses included: “I insist on living my life fully, no matter what”, “You can’t live in fear” and “I never let anyone or anything stop me from doing what I want.”

In support of the resilient attitude of their travellers, STA Travel advisers will tomorrow morning rally at the corner of Queen and Victoria Streets, one of Auckland’s busiest intersections, to encourage people to ‘honk’ if you want a holiday and remind them to keep travelling and exploring the world.

From 6.30am – 9.30am Auckland motorists on their way to work will witness a sea of passionate travellers imploring people to reminisce about what travel means to them.

Motorists in every capital city of Australia will also be encouraged ‘honk’ if you want a holiday on the same day at the same time, after the STA Travel survey in Australia revealed that young Aussies will just as defiantly travel in the face of their fears.

“With ‘honk if you want a holiday’, we’re asking people to acknowledge that yes, it is a scary world but nothing’s going to stop us – and nothing should,” says STA Travel General Manager, Blair Catton.

According to Blair, the survey results reveal a strong desire for New Zealand’s youth to experience the world in the face of increasing dangers.

“It’s not so much an attitude of ‘it won’t happen to me’, but more one of ‘we know the risks, we appreciate the risks, but we’re still determined to keep travelling’,” Blair says.

“Kiwis have always been big travellers and at STA Travel, we believe it’s an important part of our culture that should be encouraged. By tooting, we’re saying that New Zealand will remain part of world travelling community and we won’t be put off by recent events.”

WHAT: HONK IF YOU WANT A HOLIDAY!
WHEN: 6.30am – 9.30am, Tuesday, 1 July 2003 (the exact middle day of the year)
WHERE: Intersection Queen and Victoria Streets, Auckland

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