Call for ‘Terrorism’ or ‘Risk Destination’ Travel Insurance Clause Review
HolidayTravelWatch notes with interest the report in The Sun Newspaper – ‘Global holiday terror risk soars’. It raises the statistic created by the US Government, that there has been a 24% increase, since 2006, on the number of people killed by terrorist attacks. It cites the fact that, ‘Many attacks happened in popular holiday spots such as India, Thailand and Sri Lanka’. It is not clear from the article how many of those killed were in fact tourists, however, it does raise the question that ‘terrorism’ exclusion clauses should be ’scrapped’.
In the last two years, HolidayTravelwatch has sought to raise a discussion on the problem with ‘risk destinations’, travel advices and travel insurance. The problem with travel insurance and exclusion clauses came to a head following the Kenyan crisis at the beginning of 2008:
We have also dealt extensively with the issue of risk destinations, insofar as they relate to natural disasters; the recent Hurricane Gustav being a good example of the selling of holidays to tourist destinations during a hurricane season.
Frank Brehany, the Senior Consumer Advocate for HolidayTravelWatch states:
“I would caution the statistic which highlights a 24% increase in deaths due to terrorism – it is not clear from the newspaper article how this relates to tourism. However, the fact that this article raises a call for ‘terrorism’ exclusion clauses to be ’scrapped’ is an interesting point. Perhaps the time has now come for a mature debate on the issue of ‘official travel advices’ vs ‘unofficial travel advices’ and how this relates to the risk destination and travel insurance for the holidaymaker”.
He concludes:
“Rather than the scrapping of an exclusion clause, perhaps the time has arrived for the introduction of different ‘bandwiths’ of travel insurance, designed to cover the risk destination – whether that risk is created by natural or man made means! Perhaps the Insurance Industry or the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee could advance the debate?”
Holidaymakers affected by this issue should contact HolidayTravelWatch for Free Advice & Assistance.
Tags: holiday complaints, Hurricanes, Risk Destinations, terrorism, travel insurance
HTW has noted that amongst the submissions to the Committee on Toxicity (COT) it has been suggested that the symptoms highlighted by crew and passengers were akin to the condition of hyperventilation.
HTW has for many years received reports from concerned holiday makers or independent travellers as to the safety of their aircraft, ship or boat, train or road transport.
