Holidaymakers put currency woes behind them

Holidaymakers put currency woes behind them – British holidaymakers have put currency blues behind them when it comes to getaway plans for 2017.

Nearly 34 million people in Britain (66% of adults) are planning overseas holiday escapes during 2017 revealing a resilience in the overseas holiday market despite a significant fall in the value of sterling against the US dollar, euro and other popular currencies.

Three in four adults (75%) are planning a holiday in the UK in 2017 – the same figure as last year, according to Sainsbury’s Travel Insurance & Travel Money. Those planning on booking a holiday in 2017 say they will spend an average of £816 per person on the cost of the holiday alone, before add-ons and spending money.

Significantly, almost twice as many holidaymakers are looking to book independently this year, going direct to their chosen airline and accommodation providers.

Overall, city breaks are the most popular form of UK holiday for 2017, planned by 29% of adults, followed by beach holidays (13%), walking holidays (10%) and spa/retreat breaks (7%)^.

Beach holidays are the most popular choice of overseas trip, planned by 30% of adults, followed by city breaks (19%) and cruises (7%).

However, the findings reveal that many holidaymakers will leave their purchase of travel insurance until late in the day. Six per cent of holidaymakers say they will buy their travel insurance within the last week before going on holiday, a further one per cent will leave it until the day of departure, and thirteen per cent will buy it at some stage between booking the trip and the week before they go on holiday. Even more worryingly, almost one in five (18%) say they don’t intend to have travel insurance cover for their trip.

Alan Sanderson, Head of Insurance at Sainsbury’s Bank cautioned:  “Whilst lots of holiday makers are early bookers who like to plan ahead so they have something to look forward to, our research shows that many of them don’t pay the same attention when it comes to travel insurance. Also if you’re booking independently rather than through a travel agent, make sure your policy provides good quality independent traveller cover as you may not benefit from protection under the ATOL scheme.”