Britons and Travel Insurance

Halifax is traditionally a building society, however like many financial institutions they provide insurance and other financial products. As such they’re interested in the habits of the UK consumer and have recently conducted a survey into our holidaymaking habits. In among the interesting statistics on the increased desire by the British public to travel more and travel further they’ve discovered a disturbing trend to ignore the need for travel insurance, particularly amongst younger travellers; ironically those who are more adventurous when it comes to choosing travel destinations and occupations.

According to the survey, on average Britons will travel 248,000 miles in their lifetime, enough to go around the world ten times! Nine out of ten people will visit a different destination on every trip and while nearby countries France and Spain are top of the list when it comes to the most popular destinations, further flung countries such as Australia, Malaysia and Thailand all in the top 20. However 4.6 million of us won’t take out travel insurance to cover ourselves and our belongings in case of unforeseen circumstances causing problems on a holiday.

Younger travellers, those that fall in the 18-25 age bracket, are well known for their love of foreign travel, particularly for backpacking and adventure trips abroad. Halifax’s survey backs this up, with this age group most likely to take three or more foreign holidays per year. However what the survey also reveals, is that younger travellers are in the group least likely to take out travel insurance, only two thirds take out travel insurance when they holiday abroad.
Whatever age you are when you consider the costs of replacing expensive belongings such as cameras and phones or even your clothes it seems slightly foolhardy not to cover yourself abroad the same as you would at home. When you consider the cost of medical treatment and getting back to the UK should an accident occur the risks are immense, as an example, getting back from the USA with a fractured leg could cost £9,900 without insurance according to Halifax.

There are many different insurers out there offering competitive travel insurance with many different plans available, something that will suit every type of traveller to a one off policy for that annual trip to multi-trip policies that will cover you for an entire year. By shopping around and being realistic about the value of your goods and what type of traveller you are you can ensure you get the best deal for you at a reasonable price