Like many industries, luxury holiday operators are showing signs of the downturn. You will find airlines, holidays and travel companies reporting significant losses. Everywhere you look there are offers to tempt you into building a booking. Even the stalwart British Airways have posted losses in the region of £400m.
It is a risky and exciting time, depending on your point of view. Some travellers have rooked holiday destinations which were hit the hardest. Holidays to Iceland are yielding great value as a result of favourable exchange rate following a collapse of Icelandic banks. On one other side of the coin, British holidays and travel in Europe are noticing how a weak pound set alongside the Euro can make things seem expensive.
Since holidays can total a significant financial outlay, what's crucial is that every traveller gets adequate protection for their holiday and the money they spend. The financial protection and assurance that comes with cheap holiday insurance is a vital precaution, perhaps more than it ever has been.
Although holiday makers going abroad may be reluctant to trust their money with travel insurance from struggling companies like AIG, the risk of one's holidays - in which you've invested your heard-earned wages - being disrupted are as evident as ever. Along with delays brought on by strikes, collapses such as for example that of the XL travel company late in 2008 will serve as a warning. It led to twenty one planes staying put, and about 85,000 travellers being stranded over the globe. This incident shows how important it's to check out whether your holiday insurance company will cover the cancellation of a vacation once it has begun - some don't, including most of the Irish travel insurance companies.
