Croatia no. 1 destination for feeling safe when using your phone on holiday, research reveals

Croatia no. 1 destination for feeling safe when using your phone on holiday

• New research finds the USA the best place to take your phone on holiday this summer, followed by the Netherlands and Italy
• Croatia is the top destination for feeling safe when using your phone on holiday

While cybersecurity and censorship might not be top of mind while you’re on holiday, using your phone abroad can bring with it certain risks. 

Some countries may severely restrict the type of content you can access via the internet while others may not have online security measures in place. 

A low internet penetration rate could also mean it’s difficult to contact someone in an emergency. So, in which country are you most safe online? Research from mobile phone retailer Currys reveals that it is Croatia.

Croatia is the best destination for keeping you safe while using your phone on holiday, with good cybersecurity (92.53) and online censorship scores (1) and a high internet penetration rate (92).

Croatia is first when it comes to online censorship with the government Croatia banning the fewest sites. The availability of mobile internet is also impressive, with Croatia in third place, just behind the Netherlands and Austria. 5G speed and average mobile speed is also very good compared to others. 

The United Kingdom is in second place behind Croatia for feeling safe when using your phone on holiday, scoring 99.54 for cybersecurity, 2 for online censorship and has a near-perfect 99% internet penetration rate (the highest of all countries measured).

The United States is in third place with a Global Cybersecurity Index Score of 100, a score of 2 for online censorship and a 98% internet penetration rate. Fourth place Italy also scores 2 for online censorship, alongside 96.13 for cybersecurity and 96% for internet penetration.

The Netherlands rounds off the top five, with a score of 2 for online censorship, 97.05 for cybersecurity and 94% for internet penetration.

Currys also measured 17 top travel destinations against 11 metrics to find out which countries are best to take your phone on holiday. The index measured 4G availability and 5G speeds, cost of data, average mobile internet speed, number of Wi-Fi hotspots, local SIM card availability for tourists, number of Instagram posts, cybersecurity and censorship.

The best places to take your phone on holiday are the USA, the Netherlands and Italy. 

Hungary, Mexico and Greece do worst for travelling with your phone from the UK

At the lower end of the scale are Hungary, Mexico and Greece.

Hungary gets 44 out of 110 mostly due to low popularity on social media, low number of free Wi-Fi spots and a poor rate of contactless payments.

Mexico scores 46 thanks to low 4G availability, few contactless payments, low cybersecurity measures.

Greece also scores 46, with its low number of free Wi-F spots and a poor contactless payments rate.

Turkey is the best place to save cash on your data usage

Looking specifically at price and phone usage, Turkey is where it’s cheapest to use your phone when considering the number of free Wi-Fi spots, costs of mobile data (based on 1GB of data) and mobile internet penetration rates. The top 5 holiday destinations for data usage are:

Turkey – low data rate at £0.54 per 1GB of data, 82% internet penetration, 278,376 free Wi-Fi spots.

United States – one of the highest data rates (£6.09/GB) but also the greatest number of free Wi-Fi spots (409,185).

Spain – high internet penetration rates (94%) and low cost of data (£1.37), low number of free Wi-Fi spots (93,225).

France – 93% internet penetration, low cost of data (£0.67), low number of free Wi-Fi spots (57,381).

United Kingdom – incredibly high internet penetration rates (98%), low data costs (£1.05), low number of free Wi-Fi spots (53,077).

You can view the full index and how each country scored HERE.