Should I buy travel insurance for Coronavirus

Over the past couple of weeks, since the beginning of the Coronavirus outbreak, we have been receiving lots of emails asking “Should I buy travel insurance for Coronavirus?”. People are understandably concerned about the new Coronavirus and, in our case, the effect of the virus on international travel.

The simple answer is yes, you absolutely should buy travel insurance, but be careful to chose the right insurance. A standard travel insurance policy will not pay out for a cancellation due to “fear of a viral outbreak” so further protection above and beyond is recommended. Indeed most insurers will only pay out if the government of the traveller’s country of origin advises to avoid all but essential travel to a particular region which, in the case of the US government for example (at the time of writing) only applies to China, South Korea, Italy and Iran

So what do we recommend?

Travel insurance for Coronavirus – “cancel for any reason”

To protect against any issues arising from Coronavirus, be it cancelled flights, governments advising against travel or simply preferring not to risk it, we recommend travellers buy a “cancel for any reason” policy. The cancel for any reason is policy is usually an add on to an existing policy and, although it does cost a bit more (about 40% more), it is absolutely worth it as it will usually pay out up to 75% of the total of the trip so long as the cancellation happens up to 3 days before the date of travel.

The caveat to this is that when buying travel insurance for Coronavirus it must but purchased either at the time of booking or within a couple of weeks of booking (if the trip is far enough int he future).

So that’s the advice:

Buy travel insurance for Coronavirus but be sure to add on a “cancel for any reason policy” at the time of booking and make sure that if a cancellation does happen it is no less than 3 days before the date of travel

Regardless of Coronavirus we would actually recommend always buying a “cancel for any reason” policy as that allows travellers to Scotland the maximum possible peace of mind allowing you to fully relax in the run up to and during your holiday.

From a personal point of view, we at River & Green are very much looking forward to welcoming all of our guests to Scotland this year. At this moment in time Scotland is open for business and we hope to see you here soon!

If you’d like to book a fishing, hunting, golfing or leisure trip to Scotland please get in touch as soon as you can, the calendar is fill up fast! Fill in one of our enquiry forms or contact our company Director Ian on ian@river-green.com.