This is a review of recent publications on the subject of travel (taken in its widest sense) and HIV/AIDS. As with all epidemics caused by transmissible pathogens, AIDS has been seen in many countries as an imported problem. What this perspective fails to recognize is that with the explosion of international travel in the past thirty years it is virtually impossible to prevent the spread of infectious disease across international frontiers. Here we highlight the relative paucity of studies that describe or investigate the context in which sexual risk behaviour of travellers takes place, and suggest areas of further research which could increase understanding of the nature of sexual risk taking, and help in the design of health education programmes.