Consumers are still unclear about which holidays are financially protected – although most say it is important to them that their holiday is covered.
More than half (58%) of respondents to the ABTA Holiday Survey – conducted by Ipsos MORI – said they did not know or could not remember if their last holiday included financial protection. However, 82% of people said it was important that their travel arrangements were protected.
Only 9% of respondents were aware that financial protection was not included in their travel bookings and, of those, 9% went on to complete the transaction anyway.
Around three quarters of the 702 people questioned 76% said they arranged their own specialised travel insurance policies.
Chief executive Mark Tanzer said he was not surprised about the high level of confusion.
“The law governing the financial protection of holidays is now outdated, and the way we all buy holidays has changed massively over the past few years. We can see from this survey that there is clearly a gap in people’s desire to be protected, and actually being protected.
“Either travellers assume cover is included or they don’t want to spend the time getting tangled up in that level of detail. We have been lobbying government in the UK and in Europe to change legislation, but so far there has been no change, that’s why in the meantime, travellers should book with ABTA Members, who can provide them with financial protection and a high standard of service.”