A vacation may not be a significant investment as your home or your car. However, it still needs a lot of money. You’ll need airfare, accommodations, and excursions, which you’ll mostly pay for in advance. Also, you’re leaving behind the office stress and setting off for a perfect vacation, because the weather is beautiful, and your flight will be on time. But even the best-planned trips are not immune to disasters. Unforeseeable circumstances could break your travel plans, costing you your vacation investment. That’s why you need to purchase travel insurance.
Most people ignore booking a travel insurance policy because they don’t anticipate the risk that may arise during a trip. They only see it as an extra expense that needlessly goes out of their pockets. However, if you consider the benefits of buying a travel insurance plan and knowing the risks that it covers, you’d never give it a miss. If you are going on an international trip, you can buy a global travel insurance plan. On the other hand, you can purchase the domestic insurance plan if you’re traveling within the country.
Here are seven top reasons why you need to have a travel insurance plan:
1. Severe Weather and Natural Disasters
It isn’t easy to know what the weather is capable of doing. You may have saved for a whole year for a summer vacation to the Bahamas, but a hurricane destroys the hotel meant to accommodate you weeks before you depart. On the other hand, you may be intending to visit Japan, but unfortunately, an earthquake hits the country. That may cost you your airfare, side trips, and even resort payments.
Having a travel insurance policy when you book your trip can assist you in getting compensation. But that can only happen if you buy a travel insurance plan with a weather protection option. Some travel insurance companies may even offer you travel assistance services and help you get a new vacation location that you desire. However, if you’re traumatized by the events that you no longer wish to stay in that country, they can pay your flight back home and reimburse you the money you intended to use for a vacation in that country.
2. Medical Evacuation
You may have planned to visit the Amazon forest or climb Everest with your daughter, and one of you becomes dizzy in your adventures. The situation may be worse if you or your daughter need urgent medical attention. Arranging for a safe evacuation to a medical facility may cost you tens of thousands of dollars, which you may not afford.
However, with a travel insurance cover, you’ll not have to break the bank to get yourself or your daughter to a medical facility in case of an emergency. Choosing a medical evacuation coverage before you travel will enable you or your family members to be flown to a hospital, or evacuated from a danger zone through a helicopter.
Suppose you don’t trust the medical facilities in that country to perform an emergency operation on you, through the cover. In that case, you can be flown back to your home country, or wherever you prefer, to get high-quality medical care. Additionally, your travel insurance provider may recommend hospitals that can take care of your condition. If you die before the evacuation, a travel insurance cover will compensate your family.
3. Flight Delay
One of the most unpleasant incidents that can affect you is a flight delay. If you’re taking a long trip, you may need several flights to reach your destination. However, because of a natural hazard, airline’s fault, or personal problem, you may delay. That may cost you the amount you spent on an air ticket, accommodation, and pre-funded activities. According to statistics by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, in 2017, the weather was responsible for delaying 27.84% of flights in the US.
You may delay reaching your destinations because of various glitches. However, if you have a travel insurance policy, at the eleventh hour when your plans seem to take a downward trend, you’ll receive compensation per the policy’s schedule. Besides that, your insurance company may cover additional costs, including funding your unplanned night stay at a hotel as you wait for the next flight to your destination. It may also assist you in arranging and paying for any travel changes.
4. Lost Passport
Losing your passport after arriving at your destination can be a huge hassle. Instead of vacationing and enjoying yourself as you earlier planned, you may end up sitting around an embassy or consulate throughout the day or even night. Worse still, the fears of identity theft and the fact that you can’t go anywhere until you get a replacement can be depressing.
If you have a travel insurance plan, however, you can get a replacement quickly. You have to call your company’s travel assistance and report to them what has happened. They will, in turn, connect you with the consulate and help you replace your passport quickly.
5. Travel Company Files for Bankruptcy
You’ve planned for a month cruise to Bermuda with your loved one and spent a lot of money to make it unforgettable. You book the best hotel with the best service. However, before your holiday time, you see on the news that your cruise‘s company has canceled the trip because they are bankrupt. What do you do? You’ll not cry if you have a travel insurance plan.
When times get tough, companies can file for bankruptcy without caring to tell you, leaving you scrambling to replace the tour you’d already paid for. In such a case, a travel insurance company will compensate you for the prepaid costs of the visit. Additionally, if your company offers travel assistance services, they’ll help you reschedule your cruise or make other arrangements.
6. Compassionate Visit by a Family Member
No one plans or wants to fall ill while on vacation, though, you may be seriously injured or have some medical complications. Most people who are traveling don’t pursue this cover because they see it as a waste of money. However, it is vital when you need your family members to visit you in case of a medical emergency in the country you’re visiting.
If you’ve been in the hospital for more than a week and you have this cover, your insurer will pay the flight and accommodation costs for your family member to wherever you are. During illnesses, having family members and friends beside you can give you comfort and peace. However, the amount of money paid by the insurer will depend on your policy’s terms.
7. House Break-In Cover
When you’re away enjoying yourself in Miami Beach, a burglary may occur in your house. Losing your items in that manner could be devastating and may even cut short your exciting vacation. But if you have a travel insurance policy, your worries may quickly be turned into joy.
Your insurer will compensate you for any loss or damage from burglary while you are away. That can, however, only happen if the incident takes place during your policy term. On top of that, some insurers may offer housekeeping services to you if you return home, disabled, or injured.
The Bottom Line
Whether you’re going for an educational trip, business trip, or leisure trip individually, or with a family, you should invest in a travel insurance policy. Most travelers ignore buying travel insurance because they don’t understand its inclusions, or because they don’t want to spend money to cover uncertainties that may never happen.
However, it’s still important to have this insurance because calamities can fall upon you anytime and anywhere. And when it does, those who’ve covered themselves against disasters, are the ones who’ll benefit in adversity.
Now that you know why you need a travel insurance policy, it’s best to decide which cover you’ll need for your next trip and purchase it.
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