More than seven in 10 UK adults (72%) say they actively look to buy cheaper travel insurance, even if it means some things aren’t covered when they travel abroad – according to research from AllClear Travel Insurance.
These findings come from AllClear Travel Insurance’s new annual travel trends report, which explores the rising trend of medical non-declaration for people buying travel insurance during 2025. The new AllClear data also questions whether it’s just financial pressures that are forcing people to hunt around for cheap travel cover. AllClear’s research reveals that the percentage of people that say cost-of-living pressures are forcing them to cut back on travel insurance has actually fallen sharply in the last year – from 32% down to 22% over the last 12-months.
To better understand the dynamics at play, AllClear asked a nationally representative sample of 2,000 UK holidaymakers why they were happy to cut back on travel insurance spend, knowing that they wouldn’t be covered for some things as a consequence.
Key findings:
- More than one in five people (22%) believed all travel insurance policies were the same, irrespective of the big price differences for travel policies in the market.
- “Not travelling far” was given as a key reason to compromise on travel insurance by 21% of people polled.
- Financial pressures from the cost-of-living crisis were a factor at play, but its significance has fallen since summer 2024 (down from 32% to 22% this year). Set against this, the majority of people are still looking for cheaper cover.
- “It won’t happen to me.” A rising number of people were happy to cut back on travel cover because they didn’t think they would fall ill (17%, up from 12% last year) or have an accident abroad (14%, up from 10% last year).
Of concern, people with medical conditions (79%) were more likely than the national average to shop around for cheaper travel insurance, even if it meant some things would not be covered. For this group of holidaymakers, shopping for cheap cover, knowing there may be risks, is on the rise (up from 68% last year).
Garry Nelson, Head of Corporate Affairs at AllClear insurance comments: “It’s startling to see that many people with medical conditions are buying cover based on price. Many of the reasons why people are happy to cut corners on travel cover are misplaced. For those people dismissing accidents and illness as something that happens to other people abroad – they could well be the very people that end up getting stuck abroad in hospital, with no insurance to cover the bills. Safety first and comprehensive cover need to be the new watchwords so we can properly protect people abroad.”
Discover more about AllClear at: www.allcleartravel.co.uk