One in five people ‘not to take travel insurance’
A survey for travel organization Abta suggested that one in five UK holidaymakers head off not to take travel insurance on holiday. The poll of 2,018 people had found that if there were something wrong, a similar proportion thought the UK government would be covering the cost. However, Abta forced people to purchase insurance at the same time as booking a holiday. The survey said that when booking, the most important factor was safe and secure accommodation.
John de Vial as Abta head of financial protection said that so many people put their health and finances at risk by traveling abroad without insurance so that it was very worrying. He added that the Foreign Office’s wouldn’t be responsibility to pay for their hospital bills although younger travelers. “In economic climate currently, customers had to be careful to buy insurance at the time of booking their holiday to get the cancellation cover for redundancy as well as any potential illness before traveling.
The survey had found that 17% of those believed that if they had a European Health Insurance Card, travel insurance wasn’t necessary when traveling in Europe. More mistakenly believed that if they felt ill or got an accident and had to be flown back to the UK, the card that provided access to basic state medical care would give their repatriation costs.