Nearly 40% Dutch fear theft on holiday

From recent research from Overstappen.nl shows that Dutch people are particularly worried about the theft of valuables while travelling abroad. 39.6% of respondents fear their phones or wallets being stolen, while only 7.4% worry about driving in another country. Also, 38.9% fear getting sick during their stay. Other worries are breakdown on the road (26.7%) and loss of luggage (24.6%). 

Concerns vary widely between different age groups. Young people aged between 18 and 34 are most worried about losing luggage (40.4%), while they are less worried about getting sick abroad (19.9%). Middle-aged people, aged between 35 and 54, are more worried about getting sick abroad (40.1%) and breakdown on the road (44.5%). Interestingly, almost 54.7% of older people (55 years or older) said they do not worry about the mentioned problems, which is significantly higher than among younger age groups. 

In addition, interesting differences are visible between men and women. Women generally worry more than men; 44.2% of women are worried about theft of belongings versus 35.9% of men. In addition, 44.7% of women worry about getting sick abroad versus 34.4% of men. On losing luggage, 29.3% of women worry, as opposed to 20.9% of men. It is further noteworthy that 34.6% of men say they do not worry about the aforementioned issues, compared to 27.1% of women. 

Jeremy Broekman, travel insurance expert at Overstappen.nl, comments: "It is striking that many people worry about the theft of belongings, while driving abroad is only mentioned as a concern by a small proportion of Dutch people. In addition, the survey shows that women are generally more concerned when travelling abroad than men; all percentages are slightly higher for women. Among the age groups, it is notable that young people are especially afraid of losing their luggage, while 54.7% of older people say they have no concerns at all about the aspects mentioned."