The Diplomat
Since July 1, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reinforced the #ViajaSeguro (#TravelSafe) information campaign on social networks, aimed at all Spanish citizens who are thinking of traveling abroad in the coming months, coinciding with the summer holidays.
In 2023, as the Ministry recalled yesterday through a press release, Spaniards made more than 19 million trips abroad and this year, on the occasion of the Euro Cup in Germany, which runs until July 14, and the Olympic and Paralympic Games in France, from July 26 to September 8, that figure will be “predictably higher.”
For this reason, Foreign Ministry is going to multiply the information effort for travelers through social networks. The #ViajaSeguro campaign will be visible through the accounts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the social network X, on Instagram, on LinkedIn and on Facebook.
The messages will also remind you that the 178 Spanish consulates abroad have emergency telephone numbers available 24 hours a day to communicate any adverse circumstances related to the trip. Through these emergency lines, and that of the Ministry’s headquarters, people will also be able to receive first assistance in case of need. These telephone numbers can be found on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In any case, this campaign emphasizes two tools that the Department makes available to citizens: Travel Recommendations and the Traveler Registry. Through the Ministry’s website you can access the Travel Recommendations, which collect useful information for each country such as the documentation necessary for the trip, vaccines or security conditions. These are data that are constantly updated with the information provided by the Spanish embassies. There are also practical recommendations that help travelers who have chosen that country as their destination.
The Traveler Registry collects, with the maximum guarantees of confidentiality, the personal and travel data of any person who voluntarily fills out the forms. In case of emergency, it facilitates the attention and location of travelers. The #ViajaSeguro campaign focuses on the convenience of communicating travel information through this Registry. Use is free and makes it easier to locate people to check their status in case of emergencies due to natural disasters (hurricanes, earthquakes, etc.), armed conflicts and other situations.
Finally, the name of the campaign itself reflects the importance of always contracting medical or travel insurance that covers possible expenses arising from multiple incidents: from flight cancellations or suspensions of transportation services in the destination country, due to various circumstances, to medical care needs derived from health problems, including hospitalizations due to accidents or medicalized repatriations. “Having medical or travel insurance facilitates this necessary care, which, in addition, in certain countries, can be very expensive,” Foreign Ministry warned.
