Online lifeline for Brits abroad

The Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) has launched a new service called LOCATE which will help to track down Britons in the event of a crisis abroad. The service has been created in response to the changing face of travel. More people are travelling today than ever before, with an estimated 68m foreign trips made by British nationals in 2006. We are also travelling to more unstable regions and many of us are staying abroad for longer than a year.

Research conducted by the FCO shows that we're so keen to get off the beaten track these days that many of us lose contact with home completely. More than half don't leave an itinerary with loved ones when going abroad, almost two thirds admit when their loved ones are travelling abroad they often don't know where they are and 2 in 5 have experienced difficulties getting in touch with them whilst they're away. Considering 1 in 5 Brits have had something happen whilst abroad where they've been compelled to let somebody know they're okay, this is quite worrying.

The world is changing and it's not just remote, exotic places where a crisis can happen. Last summer's fires in Greece and bombings in recent years in popular resorts like Turkey, Egypt and Bali are all signs that we need to be more careful wherever we're travelling.

More info available at Fco.gov.uk.