The popularity of adventure sports is the reason for the increasing number of medical claims from gap year students .
The number of travel insurance claims made by gap year students has increased by more than half in the past six months, according to one insurer .
Travel insurance provider, Essential Travel, said the number of claims on their backpacker insurance policy rose by 61.4 per cent from December 2009 and May 2010, compared to the same period a year earlier. Medical expenses accounted for 52.4 per cent of claims and 18.4 per cent for personal effects. The average value per claim also escalated in a year, from £77 per claim to £584 per claim, an increase of 658 per cent.
Stuart Bensusan, of EssentialTravel.co.uk, said: “It’s logical that medical expenses would account for a high proportion of claims from backpackers when you consider the growth in popularity of adventure sports activities among gappers, such as bungee jumping, sky diving, skiing and white-water rafting .”