British tourist bags worth thrice their holiday cost

LONDON - British holidaymakers pack their suitcase with clothes, gadgets and toiletries worth 3,000 pounds, almost three times the cost of their holiday, a survey has found.

A traveller takes 325 pounds of clothes, 119 pounds of shoes, flip-flops and wedges and 75 pounds of accessories such as scarves, sarongs and hats, the research shows.

Travellers also pack sunglasses to the value of 94 pounds, jewellery to the tune of 236 pounds and electrical equipment worth 750 pounds, Daily Mail reported.

The haul totals 3,174.65 pounds - almost three times the 1,342 pounds cost of an average package holiday.

The study also found that one in five holidaymakers don’t take out travel insurance to cover lost or stolen luggage.

Jacky Brown at Sheilas’ Wheels travel insurance, which polled 3,000 people said: “The majority of people don’t give a second thought to the value of the goods they are packing into their suitcase and hand luggage, but in reality the contents are worth thousands.

“And when it comes to the crunch, most holidaymakers don’t even use half of the items they take with them.”

People take cameras worth 231.03 pounds, camcorders worth 281.03 pounds and shavers totalling 104.71 pounds. In addition, they pack entertainment such as mp3 players, CD players, laptops, and mobile phones with a collective total of 1,207.61 pounds.

Personal hygiene sets them back another 189.25 pounds as they pack their suitcase full of toiletries, hairdryers and straighteners, the research says.

Items such as baby equipment and food and snacks cost a further 258.62 pounds. The suitcase and hand luggage itself costs another 51.23 pounds, taking the total value of the luggage to over 3,000 pounds.