By Gugu Martini

Tourism is often viewed as one of the more volatile industries as it can be affected in so many different ways yet we all risk our hard earned money each year when we book that trip. There are those however, that believe they are perfectly capable of dealing with any problems they may encounter whilst on vacation so do not purchase travel insurance no matter what.

Considering the amount of money that travel insurance actually costs in relation to the overall vacation cost, it is minimal at around five to ten percent but can give the traveler peace of mind when so many things can go wrong. An illness, accident or other unforeseen circumstance can force a traveler to cancel or interrupt their plans and that instance they face two major losses: nonrefundable deposits and medical expenses not covered by insurance.

Other situations that can occur are when you cannot actually keep your reservation and of course the entire amount you have paid on the vacation will be lost. Most travel insurance will cover trip cancellation, trip interruption or delays, medical, dental, emergency medical transportation, lost luggage, accidental death, financial default of airlines, and cruise lines.

Sometimes a traveler must cancel their vacation and this could result in a traveler losing nonrefundable deposits and prepayments that add up to hundreds if not thousands of dollars. In fact, you would be wise to avoid any travel insurance policy that does not pay out for trip cancellation as this is still the most likely event that will happen that you would need to claim on.

A trip can also be interrupted partway through and cancellation coverage will refund any unused parts of your vacation including any unused deposits for other trips. Some travel insurance policies do not cover terrorism and they may only cover terrorist acts that occur in foreign countries whilst others can cover terrorist incidents both in the United States and abroad.

Although it ha been mentioned that the cost of travel insurance is usually under 10 percent, this can vary and the biggest factor to this s the age of the traveler. Always a fear with people is whether the person they have booked the vacation with will still be operating when they travel but if you have arranged your travel insurance within 15 days of paying the deposit you should be able to claim back all costs if they cease trading.

Always check for duplicate coverage as there are a few types of insurance related to travel that you may not need because you are covered from other sources which could include your health insurance, life insurance or even your car insurance policy, may have limited coverage. This is well wroth checking as there is no point covering the same area twice as all it does is increase the cost. It may be boring but check the fine print carefully on your insurances to confirm that you are in fact covered by sections of the insurance when you travel.

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