Vacationers could take legal action against travel agencies over skin cancer, researchers say

• It questions if the tourism industry is doing enough to protect its customers "from one of the biggest killers of our generation".
• The authors, who worked in association with a leading Australian dermatologist, criticised travel brochures for often showing bronzed sunbathers wearing next to no clothes.
• Analysing attitudes to skin cancer, the report said the main reason it had become the second most common cancer in the UK was the huge increase in foreign travel, with the dangers far from the minds of people heading for the sun.
• Professor Ken Peattie, of the Centre for Business Relationships, Accountability, Sustainability and Society (Brass), said that when people went away they forget about the risks.
• "There seems to be little incentive for travel agents to alert their customers to the potential health and other hazards present at their destination," said Professor Ken Peattie.
• Yet in reality, a tourist is far more likely to fall victim to health problems."
• They claimed the delay has allowed the tourist industry to get away without facing its responsibilities.
• But they warned people suffering from skin cancer could soon start pushing claims through the courts for a failure of the industry to protect them from the effects of over-exposure to the sun.
• But Ms Tuke of Abta said: "I hate to say it, but we live on an island that is often murky, dark, foggy and even wet and the attraction of going abroad, frankly, is that it's sunny and warm.
• "The point of this research is not to consign the sunshine holiday to the past," said Dr Sue Peattie, "but to call on the tourist industry to start acting responsibly by warning customers about the long term risks associated with sunburn."