Brits planning a holiday have been urged to check one thing ahead of time or risk potentially losing hundreds or even thousands of pounds. Failing to do this could result in your travel insurance being invalidated, meaning you could lose out if something goes wrong.

You should “keep checking” in the “days and weeks leading up to your trip” to be sure you don’t miss anything.

This advice will let you know if there are any current risks associated with where you’re going. These might be due to major weather events, crime, political unrest, war, or terrorist activity.

In some cases, the advice might be as extreme as to tell you not to go at all, but in others it might involve avoiding certain areas or being aware of specific situations. Travel Health Pro said: “Planning to travel abroad?

“Before you book your trip, check Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) foreign travel advice for information on safety and security at your destination. Remember to keep checking FCDO advice in the days or weeks leading up to your trip too, as circumstances can change very quickly.”

It went into more detail about what the warnings mean: “If the FCDO think the risk of travel is unacceptably high, they will formally advise British people against ‘all but essential travel’ or ‘all travel’ to a particular country or region.

“The ‘warnings and insurance’ section of each FCDO country advice page lists all the areas (if appropriate) to which this applies. You can also receive FCDO email alerts about specific countries by signing up through a link on the FCDO country page for your destination.”

Failing to carry out this check and travelling to a risky area could result in your insurance being invalidated. This could mean you lose out on hundreds or even thousands of pounds if something goes wrong and your trip is cancelled or cut short.

Travel Health Pro said: “Remember – your foreign travel insurance could be invalidated if you travel against FCDO advice. If you travel, remember to check FCDO travel advice regularly, as situations can change quickly.”

Countries with an FCDO warning in place

At the time of reporting, several countries currently have an FCDO warning against travel in place. These include:

Check the full list of foreign travel advice for countries online here.