A quarter of people who went on a holiday abroad in the past 12 months did so without travel insurance, according to new figures¹ released by ABTA – The Travel Association.

And those most likely to forgo insurance are travellers aged 25-34, with two in five (41%) admitting that they went on at least one trip uninsured in the past year.

With May half-term signalling the start of the peak holiday period, ABTA is warning holidaymakers of the potentially costly consequences of not taking out a travel insurance policy to cover their trips. 

Uninsured travellers who fall ill or hurt themselves while away are liable for substantial medical bills and repatriation costs, in extreme cases in the tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds. Data shows the average travel insurance claim stood at £1,724 in 2023².

They will also have no chance of getting any money back if they need to cancel their trip before they go away, due to illness or redundancy, for example.

For these reasons, ABTA is urging all travellers to make sure they take out a comprehensive travel insurance policy as soon as they book their trip, which covers the activities they plan to do and any pre-existing medical conditions.

The main reason people gave for travelling uninsured was that they were prepared to take the risk (28%).

They also said they didn’t take out a policy because they had a GHIC/EHIC³ (25%), they forgot to do so (17%) or they didn’t think that travel insurance is that important (16%).

ABTA says while having a GHIC/EHIC card is important, it shouldn’t be seen as a replacement for travel insurance. While the card allows travellers to access medically necessary state healthcare, it won’t cover some of the more expensive medical bills, for example, being flown back home in an air ambulance, which costs upwards of £20,000⁴. 

¹ All figures are from an online survey conducted by YouGov Plc from 16th – 17th April 2025 with a nationally representative sample of 2015 UK adults (aged 18+). By ‘the past 12 months’ we are referring to mid-April 2024 to mid-April 2025.

² Safe travels: remember the ‘Travellers Ten’ when taking out insurance | ABI

³ The Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) provides low-cost or free access to medically necessary state healthcare in all 27 EU countries, as well as Switzerland, Montenegro, the Channel Islands and Australia. It comes free of charge, is valid for five years and can be applied for at NHS.uk.

⁴ These costs were provided by AXA Assistance UK Ltd, more detail can be found in this press release: ABTA says big increase in medical costs abroad makes travel insurance even more essential | News | ABTA.