Although claims were paid out in the amount of approximately £26 million this year when 24 travel firms went bust, it was not a repeat of 2010 when there were 239 travel firms which became insolvent. Last year the amount paid in claims totalled approximately $47 million.
This year the greatest number of people affected by travel companies going under happened during the summer months when holiday travel abroad is at its peak. While 74,000 travellers in the UK were affected this year, it is nothing like the 189,000 passengers affected last year. In fact, it was far less than half the number.
Even though there were fewer claims this year, the amount of an average claim was up by 40% and averaged about £353 per claim while last year the average claim was roughly £250.Claims on long trips abroad saw a rise of only 3% this year. Last year claims on long trips averaged £1,142 while this year they averaged a bit more than £1,173.
Data on holiday bookings and companies that collapse is gathered by the Centre for Economics and Business Research but cost comparison is compiled by Kelkoo online. This information gathered for the travel industry is then made public as the travel sector begins its busiest booking period each year.
While 90% of claims were successfully filed this year, approximately 8% did not receive compensation, even though they had been entitled to it. In fact, the data shows that at least £2 million in claims went unpaid as 6,000 travellers did not submit claims that were valid.
As reported by the Guardian, one of the largest holiday companies to go bankrupt this year was Holidays 4 UK where approximately 13,000 travellers in Turkey were repatriated and another 50,000 had to have their holidays cancelled. Most holiday companies however were quite small and did not affect a great number of people.
With the faltering economy, consumer confidence down and austerity measures in place, there is some amount of concern what this year’s holiday market will entail and whether or not UK consumers will see fit to spend money on holidays as they had in the past. With the busiest booking season just ahead, this information should soon be apparent.
