The beach holiday is starting to go out of fashion with more and more people favouring a more active adventure travel or activity holiday.
Large travel companies such as Kuoni and Thomas Cook are now creating specialist activity holiday packages for those seeking new, thrilling experiences and travel agents are seeing a rise in the number of adventure trips and excursions they are selling. Whereas the lethargic beach holiday is an insurers? dream - given the minimal risks involved with pool-swimming, cocktail-sipping and book-reading ? adventurous, or ?dangerous?, getaways are now causing more concern as holidaymakers want something riskier.
Recently, the industry supporting extreme sports has grown exponentially and the market for adventure travel is one of the fastest in the UK. As a result, there is a wealth of adventurous opportunities and extreme pursuits on offer which is great news for all, but it also calls for savviness when choosing an insurance policy. Activities such as cycling, horse riding and hiking do not sound as ?extreme? as perhaps sky-diving, rock climbing and cave diving but crucially, as far as travel insurers? are concerned, they can fall into the same category.
It is for this reason that both travel agents when selling these trips and customers taking out travel insurance must familiarise themselves with the area so they are fully informed when taking out a policy.
Each policy will vary significantly, and it is dangerous to assume a customer will be covered even for the minor and leisurely activities such as a snorkelling, or a bike ride. If they had planned a heli-skiing holiday in the Canadian Rockies or were venturing to New Zealand for a bungee jump, chances are you would have acknowledged the potential dangers and advised they invested in an additional standalone policy to cover their high-risk activity.
However, every year, thousands of British travellers make the mistake of going abroad with inadequate insurance as they and travel agents presume their activities will be covered by their standard travel insurance policy. This means if they were unfortunate enough to sustain a serious injury from a non-extreme activity ? such a leisurely bike-ride ? and had to seek medical treatment abroad, they could face large bills. It is therefore sometimes a good idea to check out specialist travel insurance providers who are able to cover some of the more extreme sports but also have lesser risk activities covered in their standard policies.
The very nature of adventure holidays, activities and sports means there will always be a potential danger so it is important for your customers to be fully prepared for their trip, even if you or they do not consider their holiday pursuits as particularly ?extreme?.
It is important to advise customers to read the small print of any insurance policy they hold or are going to take out to ensure ALL activities are covered so they do not end up with a hefty medical bill. Make them aware of varying health and safety standards which change from country to country and that they know what might invalidate any potential claim, such as being under the influence of drink or drugs.
If you have fully prepared your customer, then they will be able to enjoy their holiday to the max without the worry of a large cost for any emergency or medical treatment while abroad. Whether they are going all out with a week of adrenaline filled thrills or a more relaxing break with perhaps a bike ride and some snorkelling, your customers will be very thankful to you for the informed advice should they ever need to claim!
For more information visit SportsCover Direct
