All posts in Travel advice

ABTA are concerned about a potential increase in consumers going on holiday without taking out travel insurance. Travel agents now have to sell insurance through the Financial Services Authority, which is costly and time consuming, so they are less likely to advise consumers to take out insurance.

I think this is poor because even if the travel agency does not sell insurance, then they should at a minimum be advising consumers to do so. It’s a sorry state of affairs when agents don’t advise consumers because its not in their best interested financially.

In my opinion the follow pieces of advice should be provided free of charge to consumers.

≫ Travel insurance
≫ Health and inoculations
≫ Visas and passport information

Dangers of not purchasing insurance

I don’t mean giving the consumer actual travel insurance advice, but, simply advising the consumer of the dangers of not taking out insurance. I remember a story from a few years ago, where one elderly gentleman was billed £60,000 because he had not taken out insurance and fell ill whilst in Turkey.

You must be completely mad if you don’t pay the measly £8 – £20 to be covered for a week and you can even pick up annual insurance from around £30. I would never travel without insurance. Last year I wrote a travel insurance advice guide, I need to update it, but it’s worth a read.

European Health Insurance card

Finally, I wanted to remind consumers of the European health insurance card which is free, and provides you with free or discounted medical assistance abroad. Please bear in mind though that this is not a replacement for travel insurance.

I must be the saddest travel blogger in the world, writing a post on Christmas Day, but just think of the thousands of people who now own a laptop, desktop PC, or Mac for the very first time and will be excited about researching and booking their next holiday online.

Security fears

One of the biggest fears people have is paying for a holiday online so I am going to start by giving you some simple tips to make you feel more at ease. When you get to the point where you have to enter your credit card details make sure that the website address in your browser starts with https:// and look for the padlock at the bottom of the browser.

This means that you are entering your details in a secure zone.

Research the company

Whilst holiday scams do happen, they do not happen that often. Even so, it is still worth doing some research on the company if you are not familiar with them. If it is a limited company, visit the company’s house website and enter their business name. This should bring up important trading information and their contact details.

Go to your favourite search engine, enter the company name, and search through the result pages to see if you can find anything dodgy. Alternatively, visit a travel forum and leave a question for members to reply to. Yahoo Answers is a good site to use to get peoples opinion of a company.

Travel association membership

If the company are a member of a travel association like ABTA or the Travel Trust Association then there will be a logo with their member number. Visit the travel association website and enter that number to check if the company are really a member. I have come across websites that show the logo but are not actually, members so do check.

Protect your money

The safest way to book a package holiday is through an ATOL bonded travel agency; this will mean if the company or airline goes into administration you will eventually get all of your money back. If you do prefer searching and booking your own accommodation and flight separately, then make sure you book with a credit card, as this will give you some protection.

You can buy airline failure insurance through a growing number of travel insurance companies and the post office but always check the small print before purchasing.

Any questions or additional tips? Please leave them in the comments below.

I have been inundated with emails from consumers asking what impact the drastic drop in the value of the pound will have on tourists visiting countries in the Eurozone. Firstly, we have to remember that currency exchange rates fluctuate; it was only six months ago that we were getting $2 to the pound.

Exchange rates influencing our choice

For the first time I think we’ll start to se the exchange rates influence our choices on where we go on holiday. I cannot talk for all consumers but I have never taken the currency into consideration when costing up the price of a holiday – until now.

Comparing prices like-for-like

So a holiday to Thailand might initially cost a lot more than a holiday to Greece, but if you bear in mind that it’s cheaper to eat and drink in Thailand and you’ll get more Baht’s for your British pounds. It’s worth spending some research time comparing like-for-like.

Best currency exchange rates

A quick scout around the high-street and I found the best places for currency exchange to be Nat West, the Post Office and Marks & Spencer’s. Earlier in the year I wrote an article titled carrying and accessing your money abroad – a useful guide on money matters for travellers.

Good for British tourism

There is at least one good thing about the weak pound and that’s we should see an increase in tourists hitting our shores. Good for the economy and good for our tourist industry. Let’s just hope that Visit Britain gets out there and promotes cities outside of London.

Credit crunch travel toolkit

On the 2 January we’ll be launching our ‘Credit Crunch Travel Toolkit’ – a PDF e-guide to help consumers get the most out of their money. The likes of Thomson and Lastminute.com have contributed along with the web’s best travel writers.

Please leave any tips or advice on finding the best exchange rates in the comments section.

Visit this guide for suggestions on the best travel destinations in 2009 for the weak pound