Mail Online
Intrepid British travellers are failing to adequately protect themselves with sufficient travel insurance in some of the countries where they are most likely to run into trouble, a survey has found.
As many as 18 per cent of Britons have experienced difficulties in India over the last five years, yet nearly a third (29 per cent) of those people did not take out travel insurance for their trip to the sub-continent.
And of the 23 per cent of people that had travelled to Sri Lanka and experienced problems, 21 per cent failed to buy travel insurance, the survey by Post Office Travel Insurance found.
Troublesome: Sri Lanka is one holiday location where many uninsured Britons have run into trouble
Another country where more than 20 per cent had problems and for which more than 20 per cent were not insured was Mauritius, while 15 per cent of travellers to South Africa said they ran into difficulties of which 19 per cent were uninsured.
The survey of 1,224 people who had taken a long-haul holiday over the last five years found the problems encountered mainly covered illness, injury, travel delays and theft.
Sri Lanka was the country where the most people had run into difficulties, followed by Mauritius, India and South Africa. In contrast, only 6 per cent had had problems in the USA and only 5 per cent in Canada.
The survey also showed that it was those in the 18-34 age range who were the least likely to take out travel insurance, with a third saying they had travelled uncovered on their last long-haul trip. This compared with a figure of only 6 per cent for those aged 55 and over.
For those who were insured and went on to make a claim, the biggest single reason was illness that required medical treatment (35 per cent). Almost as many (31 per cent) needed treatment for accidental injury.
Around 20 per cent needed treatment for an injury caused by a sports activity, 15 per cent had to be repatriated to the UK because of illness and 15 per cent needed transporting by air ambulance - one of the most expensive claim items.
Although the average cost overall of a long-haul holiday insurance claim was £4,859, the price can escalate for individual destinations.
Post Office Travel Insurance said claims data for India revealed that an air ambulance to the UK could cost £80,000 to £100,000, while surgery for a broken leg could cost £12,000 and treatment for gastroenteritis could be priced between £2,000 and £4,000.
Post Office head of insurance Paul Havenhand said: 'It is worrying that the countries where holidaymakers are most likely to travel without insurance are also ones where our research found that more problems occurred that might lead to medical treatment or loss of valuable belongings.'
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