• SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR
• TRAVEL
• TRAVELLERS

In this issue of the journal, two articles1 ,2 provide new evidence on sexual behaviours among travellers.

Tanton et al report the rate of new sexual relationships of British residents during travel abroad. They used the Britain's third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles, a probability survey undertaken in the UK between 2010 and 2012, and analysed data from 12 530 men and women aged 16–74 years reporting ≥1 sexual partner(s) in the previous 5 years. They found that 9.2% of men and 5.3% of women reported new sexual partner(s) while overseas. Among those who reported new partners while overseas, 72% of men and 58% of women reported partner(s) who were not UK residents.

In another article in this issue of the journal, Lewis and de Wildt report high proportions of backpackers, a younger, mobile population of travellers known to exhibit high risk-taking behaviour, engaging in unsafe sex while travelling through Thailand. By using a cross-sectional convenience sampling design and an anonymous self-administered questionnaire, they showed that over one-third of backpackers travelling without a long-term partner or spouse had vaginal and/or anal intercourse with a new partner; one-third of these did not use condoms consistently. The limitation of the study is the …