Adventure holidays sound great. However, with holiday makers getting an opportunity to keep active and try new and exciting adventures it is a risky time.
Travel Insurance and Adventure Sports
Should you be the type of holiday-maker who seeks excitement via outdoor adventure, you may need to reduce your risk when it relates to travel insurance.
Standard travel insurance policies usually cover a certain level of activity, like camping, trekking and modest sports like archery. However, anything a little bit more extreme, such as, jet skiing, climbing and scuba diving are not likely to be covered as standard.
With regard to sports and activities that are covered, it does not purely apply to specific extremes like hiking to a set altitude of 2,000 metres above sea level; scuba diving no deeper than 30 metres; skiing but not off-piste, and white water rafting where the water ferocity is graded in advance.
All travel insurance policies are likely to specify that for adventure sports you have to be accompanied by a qualified instructor.
Should you read the small print you will discover that a generous travel insurance policy in terms of risk may not fit your needs. Therefore, you need to look around for specialist adventure sports travel insurance.
Adventure travel insurance
Certain adventure sports travel insurance is offered by specific insurers that are experienced in this type of risk and which tailor their insurance products accordingly.
Of course the premium you pay out for your travel insurance is going to be a great deal more expensive.
Compared to the possible tens of thousands of pounds in medical expenses and repatriation costs to get back to the UK should you have a serious accident, the premium is likely to appear like pocket change. Given the costs of a holiday, this appears to be slight sacrifice.
Extreme sports travel insurance
Listed sports and activities with specialist adventure holiday insurance companies fall into risk categories. Shark cage diving, potholing, canyoning, tobogganing and ‘class five’ white water rafting may be classified in a higher risk band than rock climbing, bunjee jumping and abseiling.
The more dangerous your chosen sport, the greater your premium.
How can I Use Adventure Sports Insurance?
Be clear about the sports activities you will be undertaking prior to setting off.
Should you decide on your trip to participate in another activity, specialist adventure sports travel insurance companies will enable you to phone through and add this activity onto your policy.
If you are asked to sign a document before undertaking an activity, this is more likely to be a disclaimer which relinquishes the firm from responsibility rather than insurance to protect you.
Shopping for Travel Adventure Insurance
Ensure that you have full coverage for all adventure activities as opposed to grabbing the cheapest quote.