Holidaying Brits have been told in which of the top 10 most visited European countries they are most likely to be pickpocketed. Travel insurance comparison experts at Quotezone.co.uk have crunched the numbers to reveal where each of the most popular European holiday destinations rank on their European Pickpocketing Index.

The index ranks the most popular European holiday destinations by the proportion of pickpocketing mentions in visitor reviews of each country’s top five tourist attractions. Visitors to Italy’s Colosseum, Trevi Fountain and Pantheon in Rome as well as the Duomo di Milano in Milan and the Gallerie Degli Uffizi in Florence mentioned having items stolen in 1,906 Tripadvisor reviews.

This equates to 463 pickpocketing mentions for every million British visitors to Italy’s top tourist attractions – the highest proportion of any European country. France is the second most visited country by Brits and also has the second highest number of pickpocketing mentions at 283 per million visitors, with all 5 attractions monitored being in Paris.

The Netherlands ranked third on the pickpocketing index despite being only the ninth most visited country.  Despite Barcelona’s reputation for pickpocketing, Spain – the most popular holiday destination for British tourists only came sixth on the list with five times fewer mentions of theft than Italy.

Closer to home, the index suggests that tourists enjoying a pint at the Guinness Storehouse can feel fairly confident their possessions are safe, with the Republic of Ireland ranking down in ninth with only 30 pickpocketing mentions per million visitors.