Posted on August 13, 2010 by Fiona Hilliard

UK travellers pack their holiday bags with clothes, gadgets and grooming products worth £3,000  – almost three times the cost of their holiday, a new survey has found.

According to research carried out by Sheilas’ Wheels travel insurance, a traveller takes £325 worth of clothes, £119 worth of shoes, flip-flops and wedges and £75 of accessories including scarves, sarongs and hats.
Most holidaymakers take along sunglasses totalling £94, jewellery costing £236 and iPods, iPhones and laptops to the value of around £750.

The total cost is £3,174.65 – around three times the average £1,342 spent on the average package holiday.

With all that swag it’s shocking that one in five holidaymakers don’t take out travel insurance to cover lost or stolen luggage.

The survey also found that people take cameras worth £231.03 camcorders worth £281.03 and shavers worth £104.71. Alongside this, they pack entertainment equipment including mp3 players, CD players, laptops and mobile phones to a total of £1,207.61.

Looking good sets you back £189.25, with most people packing their suitcase full of toiletries, hairdryers and strengtheners.

Essentials such as baby food and snacks costs another £258.62.  Meanwhile it looks like most people scrimp on their luggage (probably to throw robbers off the scent of their three grand haul) – the suitcase and hand luggage tots up to just £51.23, making the total value of the luggage well over £3,000.

£3000 sound like a lot to you?  Leave a comment and let us know what you think!