Young men and, perhaps surprisingly, older women have the highest rates of injury among tourists visiting Queensland, according to a study of nine years of ambulance records in the state.
James Cook University researcher Lauren Miller led the study.
She said Queensland welcomed about 2.1 million international visitors in the 12 months to June 2024.
"With these types of numbers, and with the Olympics just six years away, it would be useful to develop appropriate safety strategies and understand how to reach and inform potential visitors to Queensland," Ms Miller said.
The researchers examined Queensland Ambulance Service attendance records involving people from outside Queensland aged 15 and over between January 2009 and December 2018.
"We identified 27,687 injury-related ambulance attendances involving 21,685 domestic visitors and 6,002 international visitors.
"Injury rates were broadly similar between domestic visitors, at 32.3 per 100,000 people per year, and international visitors, at 29.5 per 100,000," Ms Miller said.
She said the study had several key findings.
"First, falls and transport-related injuries were the leading causes of injury in both visitor groups across all ages and sexes.
"Second, different types of visitors experienced different types of injury. Rates of drowning and envenomation, bites or stings were higher among international visitors, while rates of overdose, poisoning and intentional harm were higher among interstate visitors," Ms Miller said.
She said the highest rates of injury-related ambulance attendances for both groups occurred among young men aged 15–24 and older women aged 65 and over, identifying a previously underexplored high-risk population among travellers.
"Our findings point to the need for prevention strategies tailored to particular groups of travellers, rather than relying solely on broad travel safety advice.
"Young male visitors and older female visitors should be the immediate focus of these targeted safety measures, regardless of whether they arrive from overseas or interstate."
