Following last year’s historic run of hurricanes in the Caribbean, travel insurance provider InsureMyTrip reports it is expecting increased demand for travel insurance ahead of this year’s hurricane season. According to the company’s latest forecast, it is expecting a 20 percent jump in call volume from travelers seeking insurance protection ahead of hurricane season, which officially runs from June 1 through November 30.
According to InsureMyTrip, 75 percent of customers will choose a comprehensive travel insurance policy for summer travel. This policy provides a variety of benefits, including medical coverage, emergency travel services, baggage protection, trip cancellation and trip interruption coverage.
Here are some examples how insurance enables travelers to cancel a trip due to severe weather-related concerns under the trip cancellation benefit:
- Cancel trip due to weather: when common carriers such as airlines and cruise lines cease service due to weather.
- Cancel due to a hurricane warning: when a destination is under a NOAA-issued Hurricane warning.*
- Cancel because of storm damage at destination: when a hotel, resort, or vacation rental is devastated and made uninhabitable by a storm.
- Cancel because home is destroyed by storm: when the home of a traveler sustains destructive storm damage.
- Cancel trip for any reason: this is an optional time-sensitive benefit that allows travelers to cancel a trip for any reason. This benefit includes specific eligibility requirements.
Tip: Travelers concerned about hurricanes should purchase travel insurance early, InsureMyTrip said. Once a storm starts forming, it's considered a foreseeable event and insurance coverage will no longer be available to cover losses related to that storm. Only a few plans offer coverage for a NOAA-issued hurricane warning.
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