The 2007 official British Behaviour Abroad report by the Foreign Office has produced some startling results according to the article “Travel Insurance”. Out of the many holidaymakers from Britain who end up in hospital every year, the health authorities of Spain, Greece and Thailand over all other destinations are dealing with our casualties to a much greater degree.
One in five travellers of fourteen million holidaymakers to overseas destinations will do so without travel insurance. It seems the credit crunch is encouraging people to cut corners wherever they can but considering our rate of holiday accidents, cuts are being made in the wrong places. People could end up losing their homes to afford medical bills overseas. Taking all into consideration, travel insurance ought to be a priority.
Expenses in the event of an accident abroad can run into the many thousands. Consider the air ambulance costing up to £16,000 to deliver a casualty from the Canary Islands back to the UK – who can afford these kinds of expenses? The Association of British Travel Agents or ABTA urges the holidaying Brit to spend a few pounds on travel insurance. It is only a small price to pay in reality compared to that which could be demanded of us in the event of an accident.
Cut back on your spending money because travel insurance is no place to cut your costs.