More Australians getting arrested, being hospitalized while overseas: report

More Australians are getting into trouble overseas, with reported arrests, hospitalizations and assaults of traveling Australians at all-time highs, the nation's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said on Wednesday.

More than 10.2 million Australians traveled overseas in 2015-16, up 5 percent from 2014-15, but more Australians are requiring consular assistance for serious matters than ever before.

The Consular State of Play 2015-16 found that the number of Australians arrested overseas had jumped 23 percent from 1,256 to 1551, while 1,667 Australians were hospitalized, up from 1,453.

Overall, there were 15,740 cases of consular assistance, a figure slightly lower than 2014-15's 15,824.

According to the report, drug-related offences made up the bulk of arrests, prompting DFAT to remind tourists to be aware of local customs.

"The advice to travelers is simple: don't carry or consume illegal drugs overseas. Ever," the report said.

Aside from drug offences, most Australians were arrested on fraud and assault charges.

Thailand was the nation in which Australians were most likely to run into trouble; consular cases jumped a further 25 percent to 836, while the United States was second with 770. Indonesia, Italy and the Philippines rounded out the top five countries for Australians requiring consular assistance.

Meanwhile the report also urged young Australians to take out travel insurance when planning travel; while only eight percent of the population went overseas without insurance, that figure was 15 percent for those aged 18-25.

"Sorting out travel insurance should be one of the first things on anyone's list," the report said, "Thirty-one percent thought it was ok to travel without insurance to a developed country." Endit