BBA: Travel policies need to take account of terrorism

The British Insurance Brokers? Association (BIBA) is calling on more travel insurance companies to provide cover against terrorism.

The association reports that there has been an increase of around 274 per cent in terrorist attacks around the world, but points out that many policies, particularly those sold by direct insurers, do not offer insurance against terrorist attacks.

Since September 11th 2001, the majority of travel insurers have imposed blanket terrorism exclusions on their policies. As a result, many consumers could be left without insurance protection if another attack, like the Bali bombing, should occur.

In the event of a terrorist attack, travellers could find themselves forced to pay expensive medical bills or stranded because their insurance will not pay for their flight back to the UK.

BIBA is advising consumers to check their travel insurance policies to see if it includes a terrorism exclusion.

Graeme Trudgill, BIBA?s technical services manager, commented: "There are a very limited number of policies in the market tackling this issue that don?t have this exclusion, such as the BIBA Protect policy? Terrorist attacks are a growing threat and we would like to see more policies providing cover for this."