Holiday insurance cover warning

Last Modified: 14 May 2007
By: Bridgid Nzekwu

A growing number of holidaymakers may not be covered if their travel or accommodation provider goes bust.

More and more of us are bypassing high street travel agents and choosing to book holidays online.

But a survey by the Civil Aviation Authority suggests this is leaving many people without protection if anything goes wrong.

If you book travel and accomodation with a tour operator, you are covered by ATOL.

The CAA found in a survey of 5,000 people that more than one third do not realise that if they book travel and accomodation separately, they have no automatic financial protection if their airline or hotel chain goes bust.

ATOL says that this summer 18 million british holidaymakers at risk

Holiday protection

1997: 97 per cent ATOL-protected
2006: 61 per cent ATOL-protected
2005-6: 23,000 british holidaymakers rescued or refunded. £9million compensation paid out.

The growth of the internet and no-frills carriers has meant that people are more confident about not going through tour operators or travel agents,

Most travel insurance policies do not cover insolvency. The advice is to buy specialist insurance or to buy a holiday package through a single, ATOL-protected company.