BackgroundWith globalization, more and more people travel to countries where they are at risk of injuries and travel-related diseases. To protect travelers’ health, it is crucial to understand whether travelers accurately perceive medical assistance resources before and during their trips. This study investigated the need, awareness, and previous usage of overseas emergency medical assistance services (EMAS) among people traveling abroad.MethodsAnonymous questionnaires were distributed to patients (n = 500) at a travel clinic in Taipei, Taiwan.ResultsThe results showed that EMAS were important, especially in the following categories: 24-h telephone medical consultation (91.8%), emergent medical repatriation (87.6%), and assistance with arranging hospital admission (87.4%). Patients were less aware of the following services: arrangement of appointments with doctors (70.7%) and monitoring of medical conditions during hospitalization (73.0%). Less than 5% of respondents had a previous experience with EMAS.ConclusionsEMAS are considered important to people who are traveling abroad. However, approximately 20–30% of travelers lack an awareness of EMAS, and the percentage of travelers who have previously received medical assistance through these services is extremely low. The discrepancy between the need and usage of EMAS emphasizes the necessity to adapt EMAS materials in pre-travel consultations to meet the needs of international travelers.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12992-018-0382-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.