Terror threats striking travel insurance
The issue of travel insurance for destinations such as Bali has been raised by travel law specialists as an increasing number of Australians – especially older Australians – travel overseas.
One Sydney travel law specialist, Tony Cordato, has said that government advice about travel to Indonesia could invalidate travel insurance for a holiday in Bali because an exclusion clause disqualifies anyone who ignores government warnings.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade advises that people should “reconsider their need” to travel to Indonesia, including Bali, “because of the very high threat of terrorist attack”.
This amounts to a level four warning by the Department and Mr Cordato said “the conclusion must be that there is no travel insurance coverage for travel to countries where level four travel advisories apply”.
Travel commentators, such as Clive Dorman in The Age newspaper, are saying that “travel insurers and the Insurance Council of Australia have so far been unwilling to weigh in on the issue”.
But he said that the travel industry was facing a ‘dramatic increase’ in disputes over travel insurance policies with more Australians going overseas.
