Travel Insurance in politically unstable countries

Recent events in Tunisia and Egypt have highlighted how rapidly the stability of a country can change. Both of these countries had been popular destinations for UK tourists in recent years and it has highlighted the need to take the proper precautions before travelling.

One step that it is important to take is to make sure that you have adequate travel insurance in place for your destination. Many people take out travel insurance as part of their household cover or for business reasons, or it can be a benefit of a credit card, but it is important to check the terms and conditions before you travel. Often people assume that they are covered because they know they have travel insurance and all policies offer the same cover, but as with all insurance, the cover may vary markedly.

Travel Insurance Cover

The normal practice is for travel cover to be provided for certain parts of the world and you will pay more for geographically larger areas of cover. Common limits include Worldwide, Worldwide excluding North America, within the UK or within Europe but other limits can be arranged in some cases.

In addition to this many policies will exclude countries that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office recommend against visiting. This means that travelling to an area that is suffering a lot of political disturbances may be excluded from your insurance if you travel after the advice has been issued.

We recommend that before you travel, you check your policy to make sure it covers your destination, also, that you read the latest travel advice on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website.

For further information about your own policy with Centor speak to your normal account manager.