- More than two thirds of West Midland holidaymakers take their electronic devices away
- Tea bags are considered an ‘essential’ to some
- Celery makes the list!!
Research* into holiday attitudes has found electronic devices such as mobile phones, tablets and e-readers are considered the West Midland’s most important holiday essentials, with 67% saying they’re high up on their packing list.
But a leading travel insurance provider says that this could leave holidaymakers without adequate cover should those devices be lost or stolen.
| Holiday essential | Holidaymakers from the West Midlands | |
| 1 | Electronic Devices (mobile phone / ipad, etc.) | 67% |
| 2 | Headache tablets | 54% |
| 3 | Diarrhoea tablets | 35% |
| 4 | Curling tongs / straighteners | 14% |
| 5 | Condoms / contraception | 8% |
| 6 | Toilet roll | 5% |
| 7 | Photographs of family / children | 4% |
| 7 | Photographs of pet | 4% |
| 9 | Religious texts | 3% |
Chris Rolland, AllClear CEO says travel insurance policies usually have a limit on the number and value of gadgets that can be claimed within baggage cover: “Many people may well be going over this limit and might want to consider additional gadget cover.”
Within the survey, respondents put forward ‘other’ items also important to them for a happy holiday and supporting the British tea-obsessed stereotype, teabags came up regularly. Other essentials taken on holiday were surprisingly celery, masking tape and “husband”.
Toilet paper features at number six in the table with 5% of those from the West Midlands considering it a holiday essential. Unsurprisingly, parents (8%) tend to take toilet roll on holiday more than non-parents (6%), but oddly this spikes significantly for parents of children aged between 17 and 18 years with more than one in six (17%) considering it a holiday essential.
Cautious practicality wins out with headache and diarrhoea tablets taking the second and third spots for West Midlander holiday essentials, at 54% and 35% respectively.
Chris concludes that with so many Brits off on their holidays this summer, his advice as always is to ensure you have full comprehensive travel insurance in place: “Baggage and gadget cover is certainly useful when something goes wrong, but the more common and bigger claims arise from cancellation and medical bills abroad. The latter can reach hundreds of thousands of pounds and so it is essential to be properly covered this summer.”
All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2,143 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 12th – 13th July 2018. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).
