Worldwide holiday insurance customers spend redundancy pay on travel

A growing number of travellers buying worldwide holiday insurance are spending their redundancy money on trips abroad rather than rushing into looking for a new job.

A survey by foreign currency exchange agent Travelex found three-quarters of those aged 33 to 55 were using their redundancy pay to travel, with the majority spending £3,000 to £5,000 on their trip.

Travelex questioned over 4000 people about their post redundancy plans. The research revealed that one in 10 hit by job loss viewed the recession as a positive and 78% planned to use some time to travel, explore and take the opportunity to have a grown up version of the traditional gap year.

Consequently, the company said the recession was leading to a boost in bookings for extended holidays and sales of worldwide holiday insurance.

Most adult gappers travel for an average of 3 months, according to Travelex. Canada is the most popular destination but many are keen to travel to India and China too. Japan, Hawaii and the Philippines are among the most popular stopovers.

Tom Marchant of bespoke travel agency Black Tomato said: We've certainly seen an increasing number of older travellers as a result of the recession.

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