Spain ‘hotspot’ for Irish tourist theft
A recent poll carried out by AA Travel Insurance, which took in 3,000 Irish holidaymakers, found that 81 had in the recent past been robbed of their possessions in Spain, while 31 had been robbed in France, 28 in Italy and 21 in Britain. The results tally with an analysis of Irish flight search terms, which found that Barcelona, London, Paris and Rome are the top summer holiday destinations for Irish tourists.
Over 50 per cent of respondents believed they had been robbed because they ‘looked like tourists’, with pickpocketing labelled as the most common occurrence – and one in six of pickpocket victims targeted on public transport. A slightly higher percentage of men had been robbed than women.
“Even when you put ‘the invitations’ – such as your dog-eared guide book – away, it can still be hard to blend in with the natives,” said a spokesperson for AA Travel Insurance. “It’s question of being conscious of your surroundings, and making you and your belongings as inaccessible as possible. I’d always advise travellers to know what’s covered in their travel insurance too.”