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24 May 2011 09:16
Cruise ships had the worst record for holiday illnesses last year, says study
Cruise ships have the worst record among all destinations for illnesses contracted by holidaymakers, according to a new study.
Law firm Irwin Mitchell said nearly one-third (32%) of all illness complaints handled by its travel experts last year were from cruise passengers.
People would be well advised to take out medical travel insurance if they are heading off to the destinations that feature in the firm's list of worst holiday hotspots for illnesses.
Egypt, which accounted for 20% of cases, was runner-up - with a series of disease outbreaks on large liners causing cruises to climb from second place to the top of the list.
Turkey (17%) showed some improvement after slipping down to third after two successive years as the worst place to holiday, and was followed by Spain (13%) and the Dominican Republic (7%).
Clive Garner, head of Irwin Mitchell's Travel Law Team, said: "The underlying causes of illness across these cases is a failure to implement reasonable standards of health, safety, and hygiene.
"We have many clients that have contracted very serious and in some cases potentially fatal illnesses including Salmonella, Legionnaire's Disease and E-Coli while on holiday. This is unacceptable."
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