Travel insurance is imperative

Holidaymakers should see travel cover as essential, rather than a luxury.

Travel Insurance News - 28/07/2011

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Some twenty per cent of Brits head off on holiday, hoping they won’t suffer an accident or some other kind of problem. The practice, however, can turn out to be an expensive mistake, warns the travel industry.

Every year, a variety of spokespeople, travel firms and bodies warn the public about the dangers of travelling with insufficient or inappropriate travel insurance. Despite the repeated pleas, however, one in five Britons will still holiday abroad without travel insurance.

The shocking figures were revealed by Abta, the Association of British Travel Agents. They show that a worryingly high percentage of British people continue to take foreign holidays without investing in holiday insurance.

This means that if they have a problem while abroad, they could find themselves alone and unable to get themselves out of significant trouble. And the problems don’t just begin with having a wallet or passport stolen upon arrival, or even with an airline mix up that sends baggage to the wrong destination.

In the last few years, a huge number of travellers have seen their travel plans literally go up in smoke, as volcanoes in different parts of the world belched huge ash clouds, disrupting air travel. Industrial action has also left many travellers unable to go away on holidays or worse yet, stranded at airports in foreign countries.

The risks, however, start even before holidaymakers head for the airport. According to Abta, more than half of British travellers risk not being covered should they have to cancel their holidays because of illness or redundancy.

This could leave them having to foot the cost of any cancellation charges. With the economy still struggling to recover, this could truly prove to be a false economy.

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