The 2009 Vhi Healthcare travel survey has revealed that many Irish holiday makers continue to travel without taking out insurance. For the third year in a row the survey confirms that almost half of those travelling abroad do so without any travel insurance. As many as 20 percent of those surveyed who didn't have travel insurance suffered the cost of not having it either as a result of a travel delay or a close relative falling ill while they were either abroad or just before they were due to go on holiday.

While 85 percent of those who purchased travel insurance rated cover for unexpected medical emergencies and illnesses as the most important aspect of travel insurance cover, only eight percent of those surveyed ranked the breadth of cover offered by a policy as an important factor in their purchasing decision.

Costs, convenience and value for money all ranked higher. Over 50 percent of those questioned weren't made aware that if they or a family member were taking prescribed medicine for a condition that they might not be covered for that illness and 39 percent weren't made aware that if they or a family member had any existing or previous illness that they might not be covered for this.

Despite the recession, the survey revealed that taking overseas holidays are still an important part of Irish people's holiday's plans for 2009. Almost half of those surveyed (46 percent) plan to take about the same number of trips abroad as they did last year. While a third expects to travel less, this figure is higher, at 37 percent, for those with children in the household. Up to 12 percent expect to travel more, with younger age groups (15 - 34 years) most likely to make more trips abroad this year.

Of those that do purchase a travel insurance policy, 57 percent are opting for multi-trip travel policies rather than single trip policies reflecting changes in travel patterns over the years. The average Irish person took approximately 2.2 holiday trips abroad in the past 12 months with those in the higher socio-economic groupings travelling more. Since 2003, the number of multi-trip policies sold has doubled and single trip policies sold have halved.

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