Short-break tourists see York as the world's safest city with Cairo the most risky, according to a survey.

Of 42 world towns, Bath, Edinburgh and Brighton were also considered particularly safe, while Bangkok, Istanbul and Marrakech were, after Cairo, the cities deemed least safe.

From Post Office Travel Insurance, the survey of 2,075 UK adults showed that 72% felt York was safe with only 1% considering the Yorkshire city risky, and 26% having no view.

Second in the table was Bath with 69% saying it was safe and only 2% regarding it as risky. Edinburgh also had a 69% safe rating, with 3% reckoning the Scottish capital was a risky destination.

A total of 62% saw Brighton as safe and 6% thought the Sussex seaside town was risky.

Of the eight UK and Ireland destinations in the survey, the least-safe was Belfast with only 37% deeming it safe. But although 53% reckoned Manchester was safe, 20% thought the north-west England city was risky - a higher figure that that for Belfast (19%).

Least-safe city among the 42 was Cairo, with 56% seeing the Egyptian city as risky and only 7% saying it was safe. The risky figure for Bangkok was 47%, with Istanbul 39% and Marrakech 35%.

A stolen wallet (24%) was the most common occurrence for those who had had problems in cities.

As many as 26% felt they had been ripped off on city visits, with this figure rising to 43% among those aged 18-24.


TOP 10

These were the 10 "safest" destinations (excluding the percentage of people who were "don't knows"):

York: Safe - 72%; Risky - 1%
Bath: Safe - 69%; Risky - 2%
Edinburgh: Safe - 69%; Risky - 3%
Brighton: Safe - 62%; Risky - 6%
Venice: Safe - 59%; Risky - 4%
Vienna: Safe - 58%; Risky - 2%
Dublin: Safe - 58%; Risky - 6%
Florence: Safe - 56%; Risky - 3%
Stockholm: Safe - 56%; Risky - 3%
Copenhagen: Safe - 54%; Risky - 3%

These were the scores for the other UK and Ireland destinations surveyed:

London: Safe - 58%; Risky -  16%
Manchester: Safe - 53%; Risky -  20%
Belfast: Safe - 37%; Risky -  19%