Mexico is the top destination where tourists on vacation have experienced stomach troubles the most

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Survey Reveals Where Americans Have The Most Stomach Trouble While On Vacation.

Mexico is the top destination where tourists on vacation have experienced stomach troubles the most, according to Radical Storage’s survey of 2,200 Americans.

  • Two in five (43%) claim they’ve had an upset stomach from traveling to Mexico, causing one in three (31%) to say they would avoid vacationing in Mexico based on the worry of getting a stomach bug. 
  • A staggering 43% of Americans said they had been unwell while staying in Mexico, compared to just 15% in the Dominican Republic.
  • Over three quarters (78%) of Americans booking a vacation say that their decisions are influenced by food hygiene. 
  • Over half (54.4%) who had stomach troubles, said it ruined between 2 and 3 days of their vacation. 
  • Three in ten Americans (31%) have picked up an upset stomach from food purchased from a non-restaurant food vendor, and another 27% from the hotel or resort they were staying at.
  • One in four (26%) Americans say they’d ‘happily’ drink tap water abroad, risking potential stomach problems.

Getting ill at any time is unfortunate, but becoming unwell on vacation can be incredibly stressful. New research by Radical Storage has revealed that most American holidaymakers fall ill in Mexico. 

To reveal the reality of getting sick abroad – either from food, drink, or other factors – Radical Storage surveyed over 2,200 Americans, of which 65% of respondents (1,448) said they have experienced an upset stomach caused by food or drink while abroad.  

You can view the study in full here: https://radicalstorage.com/travel/survey-americans-sick-on-vacation/ 

Where are people getting stomach bugs on vacation?

The country people said they had experienced stomach problems the most in was Mexico (43.2%) followed by the United Kingdom (33.1%) and Canada (30.7%). 

While a staggering 43.2% of Americans said they had been unwell while staying in Mexico, just 14.6% of those who visited the Dominican Republic had experienced stomach problems while on vacation.

You can see the top ten vacation locations people report having stomach troubles in the graphic below:

RankCountryPercentage of those who fell ill
1Mexico43.2%
2United Kingdom33.1%
3Canada30.7%
4Italy22.1%
5France21.5%
6China17.4%
7India16.6%
8Spain16.2%
9Germany15.8%
10Dominican Republic14.6%

Countries Americans would avoid due to stomach sickness fear

Next, we asked respondents which countries they had avoided or would avoid due to fears of stomach problems. Again, Mexico and the United Kingdom came out as the top two locations Americans were keen to avoid.

RankCountryPercentage of those who avoid the country
1Mexico31%
2United Kingdom24%
3Canada19.9%
4Italy17.7%
5=India16.5%
5=France16.5%
7China16.3%
8Dominican Republic12.1%
9Germany12%
10Spain11.9%

Who gets sick on vacation the most? 

According to our survey, the American demographic getting the illest from food and drink abroad the most are the 25-34-year-olds (47.2%), followed by 35-44-year-olds (23.9%). Surprisingly, older travelers (65-74), who are statistically more likely to be experiencing health problems, are getting ill abroad the least.

What do people do to ease stomach problems on vacation?

When asked what people would do in such situations, the most common responses were to:

  • Seek local medical help (21.7%)
  • Over-the-counter medicine (19%)
  • Drinking a flat carbonated drink (16.6%) 
  • Drinking an electrolyte drink (15.2%)
  • Natural remedies (10.9%)

For more information on the places Americans are experiencing stomach problems the most check out the full survey results: https://radicalstorage.com/travel/survey-americans-sick-on-vacation/ 

-ENDS-

NOTES TO EDITOR

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

When referencing data from this release please credit with a backlink to: https://radicalstorage.com/ or https://radicalstorage.com/travel/survey-americans-sick-on-vacation/.

A full press release and data visualizations are backed up here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dnYK1xjqW1BPpaKKIwQKU4XqNuM5P7Y8?usp=sharing 

Methodology

We surveyed 2,231 American adults between 17th – 21st June 2022, of which 1,448 have experienced stomach issues abroad caused by food or drink, asking them a series of questions about where they got ill, how long they were ill, and the actions they took. 

We surveyed a range of respondents from aged 18 to 65+, to those with different salaries and following different diets to ensure survey responses were representative of Americans. 

About Radical Storage:

Radical Storage (formerly BAGBNB) are luggage storage experts, providing a network of convenient and safe luggage services for vacationers, backpackers, and business travelers since 2017.

Working with local partners and businesses, Radical Storage help to make a vacation or business trip lighter and more enjoyable, taking care of travelers’ belongings as they explore their destination.

Source: Radical Storage

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