Brits have travelled uninsured during UK lockdown
Over 1.4 million Brits may have travelled uninsured during the UK’s second lockdown in November
Analysis of the Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) November International Air Passenger Traffic data reveals that 1,439,268 travellers may have travelled abroad uninsured during the UK’s second national lockdown in November 2020. Medical Travel Compared, a specialist travel insurance comparison site, analysed passenger data from all UK airports flying to destinations worldwide during a period where the government advised against all non-essential travel.
Medical Travel Compared had previously analysed CAA International Air Passenger Traffic to identify how many Brits may have travelled uninsured during peak summer season. The data revealed 1,914,550 Brits had travelled during July, August and September, meaning a total of 3,353,818 Brits may have been uninsured during November and these summer months.
Spain popular destination even during lockdown
The Netherlands attracted 78,905 visitors from the UK in November 2020, despite the country being in lockdown and the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) instructing essential travel only. The most popular destinations for Brits in Spain were Tenerife (58,069 air passengers) and Malaga (18,428) with the total number of passengers to Spain being 214,266.
Despite lockdown, British travellers continued to fly to Dubai in November with 69,154 taking to the sky. The United States was also a hot destination for travellers with 65,528 flying in November during the ‘all but essential’ travel ban. New York was shown to be the most popular arrival airport (12,548 passengers), closely followed by Dallas (9,096 passengers) and Chicago (7,846 passengers).
Travelling without insurance is ‘very worrying’
“Discovering that over three million travellers may have travelled uninsured in July, August, September and November is very worrying. Travel insurance is an essential element of taking a holiday, especially now when the whole world is experiencing the effects of the coronavirus pandemic,” commented Tommy Lloyd, MD of Medical Travel Compared.
“By travelling outside of the FCDO advice, travellers are taking a huge risk with their health and finances by travelling to other countries. The decisions the government made during the European summer and ahead of the second lockdown were last-minute and without consultation of multiple industries that service the travel and tourism sector. This meant that the insurance industry, like many other businesses, were being asked to react to huge changes with little notice so many could not provide cover in time for holidaymakers’ trips.”
However, a study from BHTP suggests it may have also been the best year for travel insurance.