The 20 Most Common Holiday Risks

Getting sunburned on your first day abroad, being sold designer counterfeits and hopelessly lost are the most common holiday mishaps, according to new research.

Food poisoning also features high on the list of woes, along with heatstroke and being a victim of theft.

Trying to pay in the wrong currency, arriving to find vacation accommodation is on or near a building and getting into a traffic accident also appears.

Commissioned by First4Lawyer, 2,000 UK adults were asked to name their holiday mistakes and accidents.

Slide near the pool and have some in your hotel room also on the list.

More than a quarter of people polled have experienced a holiday accident such as trauma or become the victim of a crime. And of those who wrongly ended up such events, two-thirds said they were abroad at the time.

More than 30% of respondents said they had claimed compensation due to flight delays or cancellations.

Qamar Anwar at First4Lawyer says: "Often the holidays don't go well and people get a well-deserved opportunity to recharge their batteries and forget everything.

"However, things can go wrong, so it's important to take steps like having good travel insurance that will happen while you're away."

Most common holiday accident

Sunburned on the first day
Flights delayed
Get lost
Food poisoning
Sunstroke
There are stolen items
Out of money
No hot water in your hotel room
Buy items that turn out to be fake
There is a vandalism of something in your hotel room
Slide near the pool
Flight has been cancelled
Miss your flight bay
Broken car
Arrived at your residence and found it or the surrounding area to be a construction site
No electricity/electricity in your hotel room
Stopped at customs by mistake
Traffic accident
Go to the hotel to find your room already booked
Tried to pay in wrong currency