Safety-conscious Brits looking to spend £1,332 more to be safe on holiday

Last updated on March 29th, 2021 at 10:15 am

Despite concerns surrounding overseas travel and quarantine, 46% of Britons are still planning an overseas holiday in the next 12-months and, as safety considerations dominate choices, holiday makers are planning on spending an extra £1,332 on their holiday to ensure they can be safe abroad – according to new research from AllClear.

Current quarantine fears may have dampened holiday plans for the peak summer season, but the new data for AllClear suggests that the period through to September 2021 will see more people travelling in off-peak months to have the holiday they may have missed this summer.

People planning a holiday – when they plan to go

The MaruBlue survey for AllClear asked a representative sample of 2,021 adults about their travel plans for the year ahead. The survey asked how much more people were prepared to spend on different aspects of their holiday to have peace of mind that they would be safe abroad.

On average people were prepared to spend an extra £1,332 with the main increases in spend being the quality of resort, choice and class of airline and car rental or taxis, rather than using public transport.

• Quality of resort/hotel/villa – £308 more
• Grade of travel – £213 more
• Choice of airline – £198 more
• Car rental – £136 more
• Food/quality of restaurant – £130 more
• Private excursions – £124 more
• Travel insurance that covers pre-existing medical conditions – £88 more
• Travel insurance that covers factors relating to COVID-19 – £82 more
• Taxis rather than public transport – £53 more

Insurance-related factors were a primary concern, even more so than the choice of airline and private excursions. More than half (59%) of respondents were willing to spend more to have a quality travel insurance product that covered them for all COVID-19 related factors, and 55% were willing to spend more to have travel insurance that covered pre-existing medical conditions.

Those with underlying health conditions were, on average, prepared to spend nearly £200 more on their holiday than the national average to ensure their safety (£1,644 vs. £1,482). For those with health conditions, their biggest increased spend came on private excursions (£322), in comparison to the additional £124 spent by the average Brit.

AllClear research has also shown that COVID-19 safety issues have dominated travel choices made by Brits. The top priorities for those considering a trip abroad revolved around firstly picking a country that had a good record for COVID-19 safety (44%) and secondly, picking countries less likely to go back into lockdown (42%). There were also concerns about safe travel, with social distancing on flights now more important (39%) and 29% of people wanting the comfort that airports would be safe to pass through. Thinking about a stay abroad, the state of the health service in the host country (36%) was also a more important consideration.

Chris Rolland, CEO of AllClear commented:

“We know that many people are still looking to travel in the coming months, and we also know that their priorities have changed. Safety considerations dominate location choices and people are prepared to spend more money to be safe abroad. Within this, people are becoming more discerning on choosing the right travel cover, not the cheapest. In these uncertain times people are aware of the risks. That’s why at AllClear we have designed a very comprehensive COVID-19 insurance package to help make travel safe again.”

More detail on the AllClear COVID-19 policy:

• Medical expenses – up to £15 million emergency cover for Covid-19
• Cancellation and trip curtailment cover for COVID-19 – if a family member becomes ill with Coronavirus or has to quarantine as a result of medically diagnosed Coronavirus
• Full Repatriation – cover on costs to bring you back to the UK
• Carer expenses – up to £2,000 expenses for a friend or relative to travel from your home area to stay with you
• Recuperation cover – costs for a continued recuperation stay
• Emergency flights – costs for your return flight following an enforced stay due to Coronavirus
• Up to 30 days free extended cover – should your policy expire whilst you are ill with, quarantined or recuperating from COVID-19 on holiday