Travel insurance vital as almost 300 holiday firms tipped to collapse

A financial analyst has predicted that almost 300 tour operators could fail early next year, meaning that it is more important than ever for holidaymakers to take out comprehensive travel insurance.

According to reports in the travel industry journal Travel Weekly, as many as 291 travel firms are struggling in the current economic crisis and could go bust before the bounce-back happens.

Plimsoll Publishing (www.plimsoll.co.uk), a market leader in company analysis, names the tour operators on the edge in its latest report on the travel industry, which might be a good investment for anyone planning an expensive holiday next year.

While Plimsoll does not state that all the companies earmarked in the report will fail, it does expect a spike in tour operator failures in the New Year.

Senior analyst David Pattison is quoted in Travel Weekly saying: Having clung on through the bad times, many of these struggling companies are going to run out of time and fail just before the recovery really takes hold.

""Sadly some of them are just too weak to carry on and there will be spike of failures in the new year.""

Travellers can protect their cash when buying holidays in the following ways: check the holiday is covered by the tour operator's ATOL licence; book with a member of ABTA or another trade association offering financial protection; pay with a credit or VISA debit card; take out comprehensive travel insurance as soon as the booking is confirmed.

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