Holidaying brits shunning travel insurance to cut costs

25th January 2010

The number of people aged planning to book a holiday between Christmas and the end of February 2010 is 19% lower than the same period last year, according to research by Sainsbury's Travel Insurance. 

Alarmingly 1.14 million of these early bookers who don't currently have travel insurance are not intending to purchase any. With many holidays being booked now for later in the year, the supermarket bank is urging people to protect their holiday booking, as should they fall ill and be unable to travel they will lose the cost of their trip. 

Joanne Mallon, Travel Insurance Manager of Sainsbury's Finance, said: "Anyone travelling abroad on holiday should ensure they have good quality insurance. It's easy to forget to buy travel insurance during the excitement of booking your holiday, but cover that will provide assistance when abroad and for cancellations should you fall ill before your trip for example, really is as essential as your passport."

Around 8.9 million people aged 16 - 64 plan to book a holiday by the end of February, but the corresponding figures for last year were 11.01 million.

Of those people in this age group booking holidays now, the average spend will be £832.97 each, or collectively £7.06 billion. Last year, the corresponding figures were £914.65 and £7.64 billion.

Sainsbury's Finance research reveals that 41% of people booking their holidays during the first few weeks of 2010 already have cover and that 45% plan to purchase cover.  However, alarmingly, 13% of 'early bookers' are not planning to buy travel insurance.

Ms Mallon said: "Those people booking holidays now should shop around for insurance to ensure that they find adequate cover at a competitive price. There are savings to be made by purchasing an annual policy if you are planning a number of trips within the year." 

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