Travel insurance 'is an afterthought'

British expatriates and holidaymakers see travel insurance as an afterthought, according to research by LateRooms.com.

While the average traveller spends several hours searching for hotels and flights for their overseas visit, less than one hour is devoted to looking for insurance deals.

Website spokesman Andrew Pumphrey said expats and other travellers need to consider what type of insurance they need, rather than seeing it as "a commodity you just buy off the shelf".

"It's very important that they consider the destination they are going to and they type of activity they are going to be doing when they get there," he explained, adding that watersports and skiing trips would need a particular sort of travel and healthcare insurance.

Separate research from Which? found that many travel agents sell potentially unsuitable policies and offer poor value for money on travel insurance, with six out of the 29 agents visited failing to enquire about existing medical conditions that could impact on any insurance policy taken out.