It appears that around 500,000 people from the UK lose their passport each year while on holiday, with a subsequent loss, according to the Halifax, of over 1.7 million days as they wait to be allowed to come home.
The extra costs of staying abroad, including additional accommodation, flights and so on add up to nearly GBP390 million, or just over GBP130 per person. Advice from the Halifax is to use the hotel safe or safekeeping place in the room for their documents. They should also be aware that one in ten of the lost passports are actually stolen whilst outdoors, so being careful and discreet is important so as not to raise attention.
One further idea, this time from a Halifax travel insurance expert, is to take several copies of the back page of the passport and keep them in a host of different places. This way at least there will be some ID that will help get things sorted out.
A leading travel insurance provider, Columbus Direct offer a range of policies to suit individual needs, all attractively priced.
All the typical travel insurance options are available, including single trip, annual, backpacker and business traveller. They can all be modified from standard too the ensure the best level of protection for the individual customer, where destinations, durations and also the number of travellers can all have a bearing on the final needs and structure of the policy.
The understanding of varied customer needs has led Columbus Direct to create several niche market policies, where they are leading the way and becoming the recognised provider of travel insurance in these categories. One of the most popular niche offerings is their Adventure Travel insurance which covers a wide variety of extreme sports and activities. They also offer insurance to the over 65 market and for those with pre-existing medical conditions.
Swiftcover are expecting around 100,000 teenagers from the UK will go on holiday this year without their parents – but also without travel insurance.
Young people going on holiday without their parents are one of the highest risk categories of holidaymaker – with all that freedom to explore and a desire to experience new things for the first time. However this means that adequate travel insurance is more important than ever, so Swiftcover would like to see young people making it a part of their holiday planning.
Even though travel insurance does not cover people under the influence of alcohol, something that many teen travellers enjoy, there are still many different situations where travel insurance is still applicable said a Swiftcover spokesperson.
