In its nearly 25 years of selling international holidays, Llama Travel has dealt with its fair share of incidents: ash clouds, pandemics, conflicts, and health emergencies, to name a few. Depending on how you booked your holiday and whether or not you purchased insurance, the impact of these unexpected events can vary. Travel insurance is one shield against the unexpected financial impact of these events.
As well as travel insurance, booking with an established, expert tour operator like Llama Travel can ease the disruption to your holiday. In this blog, the operator answers its customers’ most commonly asked questions about travel insurance and whether they need protection when travelling overseas.
What is travel insurance?
Travel insurance is a financial policy protecting you from unexpected disruptions to your holidays—and the associated costs that might arise in those scenarios. Depending on your level of coverage, travel insurance could cover the cost of a health emergency or repatriation, delayed or cancelled flights, or lost luggage.
Policies vary from single-trip, which you purchase for a specific destination and trip duration, to annual protection, which covers all your international travel during one year.
Much like car insurance, there will likely be an ‘excess’ associated with the policy—an amount you have to cover in the case of an emergency.
What is travel insurance for?
Travel insurance can protect you from a whole variety of unpredictable disruptions to your holiday. There is a myriad of potential disruptions to your holiday, and depending on your level of coverage, travel insurance will cover most of the financial burden of rebooking or cancelling your holiday, or arranging alternative return travel arrangements if and when required.
Is all travel insurance the same?
No. Policies vary in several key ways.
The most common policy types are single-trip and annual multi-trip. As their names suggest, those cover you for a single holiday or all your holidays in one year, respectively.
Within those policies, certain activities may or may not be covered. For example, if your policy doesn’t cover adventure activities and you injure yourself paragliding, you will have to
foot the bill yourself with no protection from the insurance policy.
What is travel insurance excess?
‘Excess’ is another variable from policy to policy. The excess refers to the amount you will have to pay in the event of an insurance claim. For example, if you claim £200 of lost luggage and your excess is £50, the insurer who sold you the policy will reimburse you £150 if the claim is successful.
The specific amount of the excess will depend on your specific travel insurance. Excess is most often tied to the cost of the policy: cheaper policies will often require you to foot more of the bill out-of-pocket.
How much is travel insurance?
Travel insurance costs can vary depending on the level of coverage, your age, where you are travelling, and pre-existing conditions that could increase the risk of health emergencies when overseas.
Single-trip policies can range from as little as £1.50. Low- or no-excess policies, with a wide variety of incident coverage, could cost upwards of £100 per person.
Llama Travel recommends that its customers have adequate coverage for their needs and can afford the policy’s excess if the worst happens. When you book with Llama Travel, their in-house travel experts can recommend specific providers for your situation, holiday, and the activities you will be doing.
If my holiday is ATOL protected, do I need travel insurance?
Yes. ATOL protection safeguards against the potential financial insolvency of your tour operator, travel agent, or airline, if you are booking a holiday from the UK. Other disruptions to your holiday plans, like conflicts, extreme weather or health emergencies, are not protected by ATOL.
Travel insurance can protect you against a whole host of potential issues, depending on your coverage. Most of these are unpredictable—like emergency healthcare, and potentially very expensive if you do not have comprehensive travel insurance.