Travel Insurance

In a recent MORI survey, 86% of the holidaymakers asked said that they bought their travel insurance from a travel agent and 14% from a tour operator. The main reasons for doing this were that it was easy to arrange everything at once (40%) and that the insurance was included as part of the holiday package (30%).

Almost three quarters (73%) spent from a week to four months planning their holiday but when asked how long they spent discussing their travel insurance, 40% said they didn't discuss it at all they just signed a bit of paper and 30% said that they discussed it for less than 5 minutes.

Thirty eight per cent said that they received only a brief explanation of travel insurance cover. Just over a quarter (26%) said nothing was explained and one in five said that they were simply referred to details in the back of the brochure.

Getting me back home in the case of a medical emergency (51%) and medial costs (38%) were among the most important aspects of cover. However, just over three quarters (78%) said they were not asked about pre-existing medical conditions which could have affected, or even negated their cover.

Just under a third (31%) had made a travel insurance claim and of these 61% said everything went smoothly and the claim was resolved satisfactorily. Sixteen per cent said the excess was taken off each separate category before the claim was made and one in ten didn't have the cover they thought they had purchased and had their claim turned down.

Almost half (43%) of those said that in the future they would shop around to get the best cover for their money.

Technical details: The MORI On-Line survey was conducted by telephone among 984 people who have booked package holidays and purchased their travel insurance from a travel agent or tour operator within the past 12 months. The survey fieldwork took place between 28 March and 1 April 1998.