Remember to pack your travel insurance

October 16th, 2008

Holidays from now on are going to be a lot more expensive then they were. Two of Britain’s largest tour operators, TUI Travel and Thomas Cook PLC have confirmed this in an article in The Times. France will be the destination hit hardest this winter which will make this year the most expensive year for a long time for skiers. Not only will Skiers suffer due to the strong Euro but apparently the cost of Ski passes has also gone up over Europe.

2008 also saw the collapse of airline company Canada 30, Spanish airline Air Madrid and also the low-cost transatlantic airline Zoom - all leaving some passengers stranded at airports trying to get home and others unable to go on the holiday they booked. Also tour operator XL Leisure collapsed which is now being investigated by Watchdog. Apparently when XL Leisure collapsed it took with it a huge chunk of the holiday market leaving 7% fewer holidays on sale. This has had the effect of bumping up the prices.

There is also the issue of the additional costs being piled on due to the increasing cost of fuel. Although fuel prices have come down recently some airlines are refusing to pass the reduced cost onto the passengers due to it being an unpredictable market. I can understand this approach but it is quite unfair on the passengers. Companies like Morrisons and Asda are cutting their petrol prices to below £1 a litre due to the fall in oil prices and this approach appears to be working well for them. Morrisons continues to cut prices for it’s customers and as a result they have seen profits jump by 19%.

If you are planning a holiday over the next year make sure that you have sufficient travel insurance cover. 100% online insurance company Swiftcover is one of only a handful of insurance companies that give you the option of covering you against scheduled airline failure so if you airline does go bust you won’t be stranded.

Entry Filed under: insurance, holidays