Travel insurance to be required for Channel Islands visitors

Starting on the 1st of April business visitors bound for the Channel Islands will be required to have adequate travel insurance.

The move has been made at the behest of the Department of Health in anticipation of an alteration to the way UK visitors to the Channel Islands receive healthcare.

At the end of March the present rule, which is that visitors can get a number of treatments free of charge, expires.

After this anyone visiting the islands, including Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark and Herm, will have to pay for medical treatment if they are ill or suffer an injury.

Because of this travel insurance will be required as the health arrangements change, and Channel Islanders visiting the UK will also be required to have proper insurance.

In 2007 more than 100,000 business trips were made to Jersey, with Guernsey attracting over 27,000 visitors.

The pound’s sliding against both dollar and euro coupled with the recession means that more people than ever will be choosing to holiday in the UK (and the Channel Islands, with its identical currency and English language will similarly benefit).

According to website compareandsave.com, self-catering firm Hoseasons has asserted that the weak pound has encouraged Britons to take their holidays in the United Kingdom, rather than travelling overseas.