I am a former travel agent who was employed by a large travel agency for a number of years. I booked Leisure, Corporate, and Group travel for many years. With every ticket or travel package I sold I would always suggest to my clients to purchase travel insurance. Most saw this as a way for me to make additional commission, and not as security for their investment.
Travel insurance is like any other insurance you would purchase, in the way that it provides you with peace of mind should anything unfortunate happen and you cannot take your trip. A person would not go through life without home insurance, or auto insurance would they?? Here are my main reasons why I suggest this insurance.
I was employed in the travel industry when 9/11 happened. At the time I was working in group travel, and booked many elderly clients on tours all over the world. My clients lived off of a fixed income and had used some of their life savings for their “trip of a lifetime”. I suggested to ALL of my clients to please purchase this insurance as “peace of mind” in the event there were any problems with their trip.
When the tragic event of 9/11 took place, I had a large group of 200 passengers flying into JFK – New York, to begin what would have been a very exciting “Fall Foliage” cruise that began off the coast of NY, and took them up in to Canada. What a wonderful experience that WOULD have been for them! My clients had just landed at JFK, and disembarked from the plane when the “world stopped”.
What a horrible time for America and these 200 frightened elderly passengers. I had been able to convince over 80% of my clients to take travel insurance, and although this was a “terrorist act”, it was covered under their insurance. They were able to get full refunds from the airlines & cruise line for their trips and were quite thankful they had taken this out.
My advice to anyone traveling is to take this insurance when booking your trip. It is peace of mind, and also replaces what could have been your life savings if something tragic should happen. I would suggest reading all of the fine print to see exactly what is covered and go with a reputable travel agent to book your trip as they will be able to get the coverage for you from a reputable company. This is especially important when booking overseas travel, as the cost for airfare, hotels, transfers etc. can cost quite alot.
Look at your next trip as an investment of your money, and you would want to protect that investment as you would your home or car??
