This year is set to be a boom time for overseas travel. Our latest January 2025 data ‎revealed that nine in 10 British adults (91%) started the new year with firm resolutions ‎to book up overseas holidays for 2025. While 49% of those going on holiday abroad are ‎planning to visit hotspots in the Mediterranean, many intend to go further afield: 32% ‎would like to visit the Caribbean this year, with 20% opting for Australia or New Zealand, ‎and 17% North America.‎

Set against the broad-based desire to travel, our research has also identified an ‎emerging trend of people not declaring their full medical information when buying travel ‎insurance. This is perhaps an understandable consequence of the cost of living crisis, ‎but it is also an issue that can have catastrophic financial and emotional consequences ‎for holidaymakers. Failure to declare relevant medical information when buying travel ‎insurance can invalidate the policy. Falling ill in some countries without travel cover ‎could cost a person their home. This is a seismic industry issue that needs to be tackled ‎‎– and urgently. ‎

‎ Falling ill in some countries without travel cover could cost a person their home ‎

Of great concern is that this trend is prevalent among those who have pre-existing ‎medical conditions, and these people now account for a significant segment of the ‎travel market. One in four British holidaymakers (25%) that have holidayed or will ‎holiday abroad this year have a pre-existing medical condition. ‎

Non-disclosure – the reasons why

Between October 2024 and January 2025, we commissioned research to help us ‎understand the reasons why some people fail to declare important information when ‎buying their travel cover. For people with ongoing pre-existing medical conditions, 63% ‎admitted that they had not declared medical conditions when buying travel insurance in ‎the past. The reasons for not declaring medical information are complex and wide-‎ranging: there are various factors at play, which suggests the problem may be ‎challenging, and take time to solve. ‎

Education is a key issue: 24% of respondents said they weren’t sure how much ‎information needed to be declared when buying travel cover, and this made it easy for ‎them to feel confused. In addition to this, 13% of people with medical conditions said ‎they presumed their insurer would already have all the necessary information from a ‎previous year’s policy. This assumption fails to acknowledge that medical histories can ‎change year on year.‎

Conscious concealment: for a proportion of those surveyed, there was evidence of ‎wilful concealment. Nationally, 22% of respondents were worried about being turned ‎down for travel cover, so said they would control the amount of information they shared ‎to get a policy before travelling. Furthermore, 16% of people had the express intention of ‎securing a cheaper price for their policy – and believed they could achieve this if they ‎limited the amount of medical information they provided at point of sale.‎

Assessing risks accurately: beyond a lack of general awareness of travel insurance, ‎some people did not calculate personal risks accurately when making decisions on the ‎cover they thought they needed. Around one in seven people (14%) believed they could ‎cover the medical costs abroad if they were to be hospitalised when, in truth, medical ‎bills in places like the USA can easy run into six or seven figures. Added to this, 14% of ‎respondents felt the risk of falling ill abroad was low. ‎

Proximity of foreign resort: nationally 11% of people implied travel cover was less ‎important if they weren’t travelling far – and could easily get on a plane home if ‎something went wrong. AllClear’s study over the summer revealed a growing number of ‎older travellers cite proximity of destination as reason not to get travel cover at all.‎

Privacy: this was an issue for one in 10 respondents. At a time when online scams and ‎identity theft is at a record high, it is understandable that people are concerned about ‎the amount of information they declare – but, for those with medical conditions, it is ‎essential to declare the information that is needed to get comprehensive cover.‎

Time: other respondents commented on being busy and getting confused by online ‎forms. ‎

The reasons people shop around on price

Since the cost of living crisis, UK holidaymakers have been hit by a financial double ‎whammy: rising living costs have, for many, reduced disposable income, while holidays ‎have also become more expensive – with prices rising by an average of 10% in 2024 for ‎hotels, airfares and tour operator holidays. Set against this, our data revealed that 88% ‎of Brits are considering cost-cutting moves to get the best value for money from their ‎holiday spend in 2025. This includes looking to shift when they take holidays to avoid ‎peak times (49%). In addition, some people (26%) are looking for all-inclusive deals ‎and 25% said they would choose to go to a destination when the exchange rate was ‎favourable to the pound. Within the mix for 2025, 28% are looking for cheaper travel ‎cover.‎

The reasons for not declaring medical information are complex and wide-ranging: there ‎are various factors at play ‎

With this in mind, we asked people if and why they might be inclined to shop around for ‎cheaper travel cover for 2025, even if it meant some important things weren’t covered:‎

• For around a third of people, it was simply a case of headline price – with many still ‎living with the legacy of the cost of living crisis, budgets dictated a policy that fitted a ‎given budget. On top of managing budgets at home was the added issue that holidays ‎were getting more expensive so holiday costs had to be trimmed for 2025 (19%)‎
• Surprisingly, one in four people (26%) believed that all insurance policies were pretty ‎much the same – and, alarmingly, this was most strongly felt by people with medical ‎conditions (29%), the very people that need specialist cover
• As with the earlier issue of medical non-disclosure, when it came to falling ill or having ‎an accident on holiday, people had the ‘it won’t happen to me’ mindset. Once again, ‎people travelling short haul were under the false idea that a short distance travelled ‎was somehow a mitigating factor in not disclosing medical conditions or looking for ‎cheaper cover.‎

The consequences of not disclosing

Our research indicated that many people were not aware about the potential ‎consequences of not disclosing medical conditions when buying travel insurance for ‎their holidays abroad. ‎

For people with medical conditions, 30% thought there may be limits on how much of ‎the medical costs the insurer would cover, but they still believed their policy would be ‎valid. A further 21% thought they may have to pay medical costs upfront and get ‎reimbursed later when they got home. Others thought they would get away with a ‎reprimand (15%) – while almost one in 10 believed if they had a policy document in their ‎hands it would be valid simply because they had a policy document in their possession. ‎

These findings present a stark wake-up call for people that have grown up buying cover ‎on price – a mindset that, to some extent, has become socially acceptable through ‎countless TV ads and price comparison sites. There is a consequence of buying cheap ‎cover, and those that buy on price need to understand the big picture to help them make ‎savvy and informed decisions.‎

Summary

From the data it is clear that there are a range of factors at play. Financial pressures are ‎forcing many to cut costs on holiday spend but, in some ways, this isn’t helped by the ‎industry marketing noise that too often associates cheap price with a good deal. For ‎some this may well be the case, but for people with medical conditions it is time for a ‎different conversation – putting safety first and focusing on how insurers can best ‎protect and support people when they are abroad.‎

It’s also clear from our AllClear data that there is a sizeable knowledge gap that needs ‎to be closed. At AllClear, we go to strenuous efforts to stress the importance of people ‎disclosing medical information when buying travel cover – we firmly believe it’s the best ‎way to help customers. ‎

A lot of vulnerable customers are making decisions on cover that open them up to ‎serious risks abroad. Together, we must change the agenda away from price and – for ‎people with medical conditions – make the case for quality and safety first. ‎