Travel insurance 'still a low priority for many'
Published On 1 September 2007
People in the UK are still not being organised enough when it comes to buying travel insurance, an industry expert has said.Recently, the Post Office revealed that 47 per cent of UK holidaymakers still did not bother to take out any travel cover before their trip.
However, John Howells, head of travel at the Post Office, said that it was vitally important for travellers to make sure they were adequately covered.
He explained: "Those few extra minutes could save you lots of misery not to mention thousands of pounds.
"It's essential to take out insurance the moment you book your holiday. Leaving it till the day before you travel will offer you no cover should your holiday be cancelled."
In particular, young people tend to ignore travel insurance when planning things like gap years.
Tom Griffiths, the founder of gapyear.com, explained that younger people often believed they were "indestructible" and so did not bother to take out insurance.
He added: "We did some research a few years ago and found that youngsters spend more time buying a pen knife than they do insurance."
