A UK study has revealed that Australia is the riskiest destination for British tourists, with theft and lost or stolen passports to blame for this damming result.
Financial website MoneySuperMarket conducted a study of 2000 British respondents about their attitudes to purchasing travel insurance, including the countries where they are more likely to take a risk and not buy travel insurance.
Almost all (99 per cent) of British visitors say they always take out travel insurance when they visit Australia.
That may be because, based on UK Government data and the findings from the survey, Australia has a reputation for high rates of thievery and other incidents.
Australia ranked third globally for thefts among British tourists, with 3.45 incidents per 100,000 visits, ranking behind Jamaica (5.65) and Egypt (4.16).
Also, for every 100,000 UK visitors, 1220.16 lose or have their passport stolen in Australia, putting us a solid first in that category.
Around 750,000 Brits visit Australia every year, so the number of lost or stolen passports would total around 10,000 a year.
We also rank third as the place where Brits are most hospitalised on holiday, with 34.52 hospitalisations per 100,000 visits.
“While we all hope our holidays go without a hitch, travel insurance is a great safety net for those occasions when things do go wrong,” said MoneySuperMarket travel insurance expert Anna Sant. “You should try to take out insurance as soon as possible after booking your trip, as policies can cover the costs of unexpected cancellations or other difficulties before you leave.” .
The survey revealed some of Australia’s good points, too, such as timely flights and low chance of ‘local disasters’ making the land down under an attractive destinations for Brits.
Can you speculate as to why so many Brits lose their passports or are hospitalised in Australia? Were you aware that we rank so highly in thievery?
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