Column: Travel with Katie Butler of Total Travel: After a five-year wait, finally a new trade agreement has been reached between the UK and the EU which will see the welcome return of the pet passport.
What is a pet passport? The EU ‘pet passport’ is a single one-off document that is valid for the pets life as long as rabies vaccinations are completed. Pet passports are at present not issued in the UK but when the new regulations pass you should be able to get a pet passport at a qualified veterinarian in the UK.
Since Brexit, travelling to the EU with a pet dog, cat or ferret has caused complications for many and involves having to source costly vet certificates in the UK and then another one in Europe on the return to the UK. Under the new UK-EU deal, new pet passports will be issued for the life of the animal and will stop pet owners having to pay out multiple times for certificates. Dates for this to be implemented have not yet been released but is definitely a step in the right direction, especially for those with a second home in the EU.
We also last week checked in with ABTA (the UK’s largest association of travel agents and tour operators) as they revealed that a huge one in four holidaymakers put themselves at risk by travelling abroad without personal travel insurance. A dream holiday can very quickly turn into a nightmare situation if you become ill overseas and do not have cover and with the peak season in full swing, ABTA is warning holidaymakers of the costly consequences of not taking out a policy to cover your trip. Uninsured holidaymakers who fall ill or hurt themselves while away may be liable for substantial medical bills and repatriation costs, in extreme casing amounting to tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds. In addition, there will be no chance of getting any money back if you need to cancel your trip before you go away due to illness.
Last year, Karen who is based at our Heckmondwike branch, found out first-hand just how important her holiday insurance is when she slipped in the bathroom of her hotel whilst on holiday in Corfu. With a week left of her holiday, Karen’s fall resulted in a badly broken leg, an extra fortnight in a Greek hospital and unable to take her scheduled flight home. Not only did the travel insurance take care of all the medical bills at the hospital but also covered the cost of her husband to stay out with her, a private nurse to accompany her home in addition to all the necessary paper-work and arranging the new flight home.
There are so many horror stories to be heard and seen on social media and we would always advise you to have travel insurance in place at the very latest for when you have paid your full balance.
June remained the top selling month last week with 15% share of the total new bookings and September was second with 11% share of the bookings. Late bookings were 36% share of the total bookings with top destinations Majorca and Turkey.