These are the 10 riskiest places to travel abroad
Going on holiday or on a backpacking trip is exciting, but it's important to make sure you'll be safe wherever you travel. And part of that includes taking out travel insurance, because you might never have had to make a claim on it before, but it only takes one accident for you to wind up in hospital with a very pricy hospital bill.
And talking of travel insurance, Endsleigh Insurance Services analysed their data to work out which countries are the most risky for tourists when it comes to making an insurance claim. Perhaps unsurprisingly – due to its popularity as a holiday destination and the prevalence of 'risky' tourist activities such as scooter riding and scuba diving – Thailand came out on top as the highest-risk country.
Almost a quarter (23% to be exact) of all Endsleigh's insurance claims were made in Thailand last year, with Chile and the United States coming in joint second, with 15% of claims arising from each of those destinations.
The claims, the research found, were most commonly made for emergency medical expenses abroad, with the average claim costing £1,319.
After medical expenses, the next most common reason for insurance claims was lost or damaged baggage, with 11% of all claims made in 2017 intended to reimburse passengers for that. 4% of claims were for dental expenses (toothache on holiday just ain't gonna cut it), while 2% of claims were made by the tardy people who missed their departures.
These are the top 10 countries found to be most risky for tourists, according to Endsleigh's research:
1. Thailand
23% of all claims
2. Chile
15% of all claims
3. USA
15% of all claims
4. Spain
8% of all claims
5. Germany
8% of all claims
6. Nepal
8% of all claims
7. Peru
8% of all claims
8. France
7% of all claims
9. Bahamas
4% of all claims
10. Brazil
4% of all claims
The most concerning thing the insurance company concluded in their research, however, was how many young people were mistaken about the access to medical care they could get abroad for free. Twenty-five per cent of 15-24-year-olds reportedly believe that the UK Government would cover their medical expenses if something were to go wrong abroad – and 48% of this age group travel without insurance for this reason.
This, sadly, isn't the case - we're not eligible for free healthcare abroad. If you have a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC card) issued by the government, then you may be entitled to state healthcare at a reduced cost or sometimes for free if you're travelling in any of the European Economic Area (EEA) countries or Switzerland. Find out exactly which countries are in the EEA here.
So before you go on your next holiday, make sure you do your research about travel insurance. With approximately 10 Brits being hospitalised every day while abroad, it's probably worth covering your back.
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