Adventure Travel Insurance

Travelers who take adventure trips are a whole different breed of traveler. Adventure travel is physically demanding and often fraught with personal danger, rustic accommodations, and unfamiliar food in remote locations. Adventure travel insurance plans include coverage for activities like hang gliding, diving, skiing, and mountaineering (to name just a few). It’s important for adventure travel tourists to purchase a plan that includes coverage for their planned activities.

Contents (click to jump down) What are the risks of adventure travel? What coverage do you need as a adventure travel tourist? Who should buy adventure travel insurance? When should you buy your travel insurance? Where should you buy your travel insurance? How can you be sure your travel insurance coverage is adequate? What are the best adventure travel insurance plans?

What are the risks of adventure travel?

Some of the unexpected things that can go wrong on an adventure tour include the following:

• On a trek to Everest’s base camp, you experience severe altitude sickness and have to be airlifted off the mountain. Emergency medical evacuations, especially those in remote locations, are highly expensive affairs. Will you have the travel insurance coverage you need or have to pay for it yourself?
• On a kayak adventure in Costa Rica, you encounter a parasite and become extremely ill. Even if qualified medical facilities are close by, you’ll still have to pay for your medical care. Will you have the funds or credit available to cover your medical bills?
• You pre-paid for a safari but when you arrive, the business is closed. If the travel supplier you have paid closes up shop and defaults, can you afford to lose that money?
• You’ve long planned a SCUBA trip in the Cayman Islands, but the week before you are schedule to leave, a hurricane wipes out your destination. When a natural disaster strikes, having trip cancellation coverage can ensure you’ll receive a refund of your pre-paid trip costs. You can reschedule your trip for another time.
• You check your bags – including your bike – with the airline, but your bags are stolen before you arrive at baggage claim. When your clothing, personal items, and sporting equipment are lost, stolen, or destroyed, can you afford to purchase everything you will need to continue your trip?
• While heli-skiing in Canada, you miss an important turn and become physically disabled. Severe injuries can happen to even the most experienced athletes. If you are injured to the point of disability, how will you pay your bills back home?
• You’re on your way to a hiking trip in New Zealand when severe weather causes a temporary shut down of all flights. When you’ve already paid for your trip, having to shell out additional (and unexpected) funds can put a crimp in your travel budget.

What coverage do you need as a adventure travel tourist?

The following is not an exhaustive list of all the coverages available with travel insurance plans. Instead, it describes those that are most useful to adventure travelers.

• Evacuation and repatriation coverage – coordination and funds for a medically necessary evacuation or to return your body home. (Review the details of evacuation and repatriation coverage.)
• Medical coverage – advance payments or reimbursement for medical and dental care received on your trip (even in a foreign country).
• Financial default coverage – reimbursement for your pre-paid non refundable trip costs when a travel supplier ceases operations. (Review the details of financial default coverage.)
• Trip cancellation coverage – reimbursement of your pre-paid non refundable trip costs when it has to be cancelled (for a covered reason). (Review the details of trip cancellation coverage.)
• AD&D coverage – a lump sum is paid to your family if you are disabled or die on your adventure trip. (Review the details of AD&D coverage.)
• Travel delay coverage – a per-day amount for lodging, meals and transportation when your travel is delayed (for a covered reason). (Review the details of travel delay coverage.)

Who should buy adventure travel insurance?

Travelers like these should purchase adventure travel insurance:

• Travelers on organized adventure tours – tour operators may require proof of travel insurance at the start of the trip.
• Individual and experienced adventure travelers – no matter how experienced you are at your preferred activity, accidents and illnesses can happen. Without travel insurance coverage for adventure activities, none of the coverages will be available to you on your trip.
• Newbies on a learning adventure – Joined a trip to learn a new skill? It’s important to have coverage for the activity. Without it, all your coverage will be invalidated.

When should you buy your travel insurance?

Purchase your policy just after making your first trip payment. In some situations, this timing is important for some benefits like:

• pre-existing medical condition waivers,
• ‘cancel for any reason’, and
• ‘cancel for work reasons’

These are only applicable if you purchase within 10-15 days from making your initial trip deposit. Plus, you’ll benefit from the longest period of cancellation coverage.

Remember that all travel insurance companies offer a free look period with a refund. If you decide the plan is not what you need, you get your money back.

Where should you buy your travel insurance?

We recommend purchasing your travel insurance directly from a third-party company for a number of reasons.

• Buying Travel Insurance from a 3rd party company vs. through a travel agent
• Buying Travel Insurance Directly from the Company vs. Using a Comparison Site

Very briefly, you’ll have more choices and options if you purchase from a third-party company using a comparison tool.

How can you be sure your travel insurance coverage is adequate?

These tips will help you determine whether you have enough coverage.

• Don’t base your purchase on price alone
• 4 Steps to 100% confidence in your travel insurance plan
• Entering $0 Trip Cost is too risky
• Is ‘Cancel for any reason’ worth it?

What are the best adventure travel insurance plans?

Our analysis found the most important coverage for adventure travelers includes:

• Adventure activities waived or included in plan
• Medical coverage – at least $50,000
• Evacuation coverage – at least $200,000
• Baggage coverage – at least $1,000
• Trip cancellation coverage at 100%
• AD&D benefits