Importance Of Travel Insurance

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With the ever-increasing role of tourism in our everyday life, insurance policies evolved to match the demands imposed by the market. As time goes by, the percentage of Maltese travelling abroad is constantly fluctuating and thus the importance and popularity of travel insurance is increasing. Furthermore, Malta has a very good strategic geographical position, connecting Europe to Africa, and thus making it very attractive for air and sea transport. The general idea is that travel insurance is a modern form of insurance. Conversely, the earliest records of travel insurance date back several thousands of years. Pre-nineteenth century overseas travel was mainly by sea. Therefore, these insurance policies were mainly in the form of marine…show more content…
In the past these may have found it hard to find adequate travel insurance as insurers used to refuse to take such risk. The elderly are more prone to injury and illnesses and certain temperatures may be dangerous for them. Most insurance companies still charge higher rates for old people but they are now offering this service. Now the rates do not only take into consideration the person’s age but also health conditions and disability risk amongst others. This is favourable for those who want to spend the later years of their lives spending some of their savings while experiencing the things they did not have the opportunity to do before. Cruise ship tourism has been experiencing strong international growth in recent years. Malta is an ideal departure point for cruise liners, as it is located at the centre of the Mediterranean. In fact the insurance market has extended its services to also cover passengers who prefer travelling by sea. GasanMamo has the Cruise Vacation Travel Insurance Policy, which covers cruise holidays starting and ending in Malta. The cover is available at three levels: Lower Deck, Middle Deck and Upper Deck, each offering the services of normal travel insurance but for trips at…show more content…
The 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre, the 2005 London bombings and the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings resulted in an increase in awareness of the importance of travel insurance amongst holiday goers. Before these recent attacks most insurers included the risk of terrorism automatically. However these events spread losses throughout the companies. Insurers noticed that a terrorism attack or a hijack can lead to a huge loss and so nowadays many companies automatically exclude such risk. This is also the case when travelling to high risk countries. These include countries where there is political unrest such as Ukraine, warzones such as Israel and highly infected countries such as countries experiencing the Ebola outbreak. Additionally, some weather conditions that may disrupt holidays and flights might not be covered by insurance policies. A clear example of this was the case of the 2010 Icelandic Eyjafjallajökull Volcano eruption. Another common example is when the Heathrow Airport gets snowed in and thus many flights cannot land or depart, causing disruptions to various flights. These unforeseen events are known in the travel industry as ‘Force Majeure’ or ‘Acts of God’. These are most likely not insured under normal travel covers and the client must pay a more expensive premium to cover such

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