Europ Assistance recently carried out a survey across the UK and six other European countries to find out holidaymaker’s concerns, if they purchase an insurance or assistance policy to cover the events they are concerned about and where they purchase their insurance.
Respondents were asked to rank their concerns from a pre-determined list of nine incidents that can occur and then state whether their annual insurance or assistance policy, temporary insurance or bank card covers them for their concerns. The top three concerns were ill health with one of the holiday party, ill health with a family member or friend left behind and finally a plane, train or car accident.

Interestingly only in three of the seven countries did holidaymakers take out an insurance policy to cover all of the nine concerns; Belgium, France and the UK. Travellers in Spain worry a great deal but have very little cover for those concerns. Also interesting for the UK was the continued high use of travel agents for holiday insurance with Austria being the only other country falling into this category.

Chris Reynolds Commercial Director at Europ Assistance, said,” The survey revealed the differences between European nations as well as a worrying gap between concerns and insurance cover. 75% of all respondents were concerned about health problems with a family member on holiday and yet only 59% took insurance to cover that eventuality.

Don’t just compare the prices of travel insurance products, compare also the benefits of the cover, the exclusions on the cover and other product features. Sometimes, it’s useful to use the statutory two weeks ‘cooling off’ period, to decide whether or not the policy really meets your needs. If it doesn’t you can cancel your policy for a full refund. “

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