Travel News

'Amazing' numbers of people travel uninsured

The Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO) has said that it is "amazing" that so many people decide to go on foreign holidays without travel insurance.

According to Ian Bradley of the AITO, many people ignore persistent advice to take out insurance and think that it is not necessary to cover themselves against unexpected occurrences.

Some travellers believe that their airline, car hire company or another organisation will cover them if they get in trouble, but Mr Bradley explained that this type of cover is rarely preferable to proper insurance.

"With airlines, they're not particularly generous when it comes to compensating people when their bag gets lost," he said. "But travel insurance can be better in terms of looking after you financially if something happens."

Mr Bradley added: "You'd be extremely foolhardy not to travel with insurance, especially when bags are going astray. It makes sense, for not a huge amount of money, to get peace of mind."

It was estimated that around 28,000 bags were misplaced in the first five days of operations at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 after numerous problems dogged the opening of the facility.

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