The danger of a Bali holiday growing

STAGGERING figures show trouble is brewing in some of Australians’ most loved travel destinations. These are the places you might want to avoid.

THE number of Australians getting into trouble or being hurt overseas is growing, new figures show.

Thailand remains the destination where the most Australians travellers needed help, with a total of 667 cases (down 13 per cent) last year including 163 hospitalisations and 146 deaths, according to a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) report. That’s perhaps unsurprising considering it attracted nearly 1 million Australian tourists during that period.

Thailand’s record is closely followed by 649 cases in the US and 609 in Italy.

However, Indonesia is well and truly a growing trouble hotspot for Australians, with the number of cases of Aussies needing assistance rising a staggering 20 per cent to 547, including 124 hospitalisations.

A crowd of people enjoy drinks at a beach bar directly on Seminyak beach, Bali.

DFAT also recorded 1256 Australians were arrested internationally in 2014-15, which is 17 per cent more than five years ago. About 200 of those were drug-related — a higher proportion than the previous year.

There was also a rise in the number of Australians in foreign jails, from 339 to 371. Of particular concern, the report said, was the increase in people jailed for drug-related offences — up from 39 per cent in 2013-14 to 41 per cent now.

“Our travel advice warns that even small quantities of soft drugs can attract jail sentences or heavy fines,” it said.

“While we will extend what consular assistance we can, we cannot get you out of jail or provide legal assistance.”

It also found more Australians were reported to have died overseas than in the last five years, but that was in line with the rise in people living and travelling overseas.

More than half of the country’s population now hold a passport (54.5 per cent), with more than 1.8 million issued in the past financial year.

Just over 5000 passports were lost or stolen, mostly across the USA, UK, Italy, France and Spain.

Overall, the department managed a total of 15,824 consular cases — an increase of nine per cent — and fielded more than 50,000 calls to its emergency centre.

The report’s release coincides with the launch of a new Smartraveller advertising campaign to encourage Australians to be more informed and prepared when going overseas.

Australians who died or were injured in Indonesia:

• In September, Perth man, Daniel Evans, 24, died while on a trip with friends in Bali after he fell through a glass window in his Kuta hotel.

• Tess Mettam, from Perth, became ill and went blind for two days after drinking two cocktails at a Kuta Bar in December 2013.

• Two Australian surfers died in the Mentawai Islands in separate incidents. Adam Albert Dube was found dead in September after vanishing during an ocean swim with friends. His death came shortly after another Australian, 54-year-old Ronald Stephen Schneider, was killed after being smashed onto rocks in heavy surf at the Mentawais in late August.

— With AAP