One in five travels without insurance
One fifth of travellers don't take out travel insurance and a similar number mistakenly believe that the UK government will cover their bills if something goes wrong while they are abroad.
The findings were contained in the 2011 ABTA Consumer Trends survey of over 2000 consumers, revealed at the Travel Convention in Palma.
Meanwhile, 17% also believe that travel insurance is unnecessary within Europe if they have a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), which provides access to basic state medical care.
A further 26% mistakenly believe that an EHIC card will cover their repatriation costs if they fall ill or have an accident and have to be flown back to the UK.
“It is very worrying that so many people are putting their health and finances at risk by travelling abroad without insurance,” said ABTA head of financial protection John de Vial.
“Many wrongly assume that it is the Foreign Office’s responsibility to pay for their hospital bills, particularly younger travellers. In the current economic climate customers should be careful to purchase insurance at the time of booking their holiday to obtain cancellation cover for redundancy as well as any potential illness prior to travelling. ”
Lynda St Cooke of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office added: “We remain very concerned at the numbers of people travelling without comprehensive travel insurance and then ending up severely out of pocket.
“If British travellers get into difficulties overseas, there are things the nearest British Embassy or Consulate can do, including contacting friends and family for them, and giving them information on how to safely transfer money from the UK.
“But consular staff cannot pay hospital bills for British travellers, nor fly them home if they run out of holiday money.”
Less than a half of consumers, 44%, purchased travel insurance for trips within the UK, exposing them to the risk of losing money as they would be unable to claim for cancellation charges if they fell ill or lost their job before travelling.
Some 68% think that travel insurance is more important for trips abroad than in the UK.
All sales of insurance by travel agents have been regulated by the Financial Services Authority since 2007 with many agents consequently choosing not to sell insurance due to the high costs and extra bureaucracy of regulation. Travel agents now account for less than 17% of sales of travel insurance.
By Jeremy Skidmore
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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