Eye on the storm
US-based InsureMyTrip has reported a growth in demand for travel insurance this summer. Licensed travel insurance agents at InsureMyTrip said that, as the 2017 hurricane season (which officially runs from 1 June to 30 November) begins, they are expecting a 20-per-cent jump in call volume from travellers seeking insurance protection. The top concern of summer travellers, according to agents, is bad weather affecting travel plans.
"Travellers clearly have concerns about bad weather hampering their travel plans,” said InsureMyTrip CEO Jim Grace. “Choosing to buy insurance early – before a storm is named – is a smart way to protect their trip investment.”
InsureMyTrip advised travellers that insurance enables them to cancel a trip due to severe weather-related concerns under the trip cancellation benefit. For example, they could: cancel a trip due to weather, i.e. when common carriers such as airlines and cruise lines cease service due to bad weather; cancel due to a hurricane warning, i.e. when a destination is under a NOAA-issued hurricane warning; cancel because of storm damage at their destination, i.e. when a hotel, resort, or vacation rental is devastated and made uninhabitable by a storm; cancel because home is destroyed by a storm, i.e. when the home of a traveller sustains destructive storm damage; or make use of an optional time-sensitive benefit that allows travellers to cancel a trip for any reason.