Travel insurance industry experts have said that UK holidaymakers can no longer ignore travel insurance.

They were commenting on the new figures that revealed that more than half of the UK's population enjoyed a holiday in the first three-quarters of 2009.

Over 30 million overseas trips were undertaken for purpose of leisure and tourism in the nine months to the end of September, a study by the Office for National Statistics showed.

Experts are of the opinion that the period might have seen a rise in the number of cases that required travel insurance to deal with, such as lost luggage, delayed or cancelled flights and victims of organised and unorganised crime.

They say that this year, UK consumers should give serious consideration to securing a cheap travel insurance policy before embarking on an overseas trip.

The official figures show that UK people have preferred holidaying in the US, as it is said to good value for money due to the weak state of the dollar.

The situation is so bad that travel companies are resorting to desperate measures like giving vouchers to visitors to the States, which entitle them to free entry to top attractions, such as the Empire State Building.