Hurricane and travel

 

What’s worrying travelers these days? Hurricanes. That’s if you consider recent surveys compiled by the folks at InsureMyTrip.com, whose business it is to know these things.

Indeed, probably the top concern for summer travelers peering into their upcoming vacations is a question of whether some category 4 sweeping in from the Gulf will send them running for cover. Survey findings reveal that unexpected weather concerns have a significant impact on trip insurance purchases for summer travelers, and also an impact on what travel plans they do end up making.

Comprehensive travel insurance provides a variety of benefits including medical coverage, emergency travel services, baggage protection, trip cancellation and trip interruption coverage.

Travelers concerned about hurricanes should purchase travel insurance early. Once a storm starts forming, it is considered a foreseeable event and insurance coverage will no longer be available to cover losses related to that storm.

Top cancellation considerations:

  • Cancellations due to weather: when common carriers such as airlines and cruise lines cease service due to weather.
  • Cancellariona due to a hurricane warning: when a destination is under a NOAA-issued hurricane warning.
  • Cancellations because of storm damage at destination: when a hotel, resort, or vacation rental is devastated and made uninhabitable by a storm.
  • Cancellations because a home is destroyed by storm: when the home of a traveler sustains destructive storm damage.

Summer Travel Destinations in Demand

Meanwhile, the insurance carrier looked at data to determine where people will be going this summer, and compiled its Summer Guide 2015 for insights on summer travel. An overwhelming eighty-two percent of those polled said they were planning a summer vacation. Twelve percent said they had no plans yet. Six percent had no travel plans at all.

Top Destinations Abroad

The most popular summer destinations for travel outside the US (June 2015 – August 2015) based off internal customer data:

  • United Kingdom
  • France
  • Italy
  • Caribbean
  • Netherlands

Getting There

Out of those polled, 67 percent will get to their destination by air.

Prefer Staying in Hotels

42% will stay in a hotel

25% will go on a cruise

18% will stay in a vacation rental

10% prefer to stay with family or friends

4%   will use a timeshare

Sightseeing Tops List

50% enjoy sightseeing the most during a summer vacation

23% like going to the beach or relaxing

13% enjoy spending time with family and friends the most

10% other

3%   eating at restaurants

Travelers Booking Well in Advance

Most travelers prefer to book vacations in advance with 82 percent booking a trip more than 30 days in advance, 15 percent booking a few weeks prior to departure and three percent preferring spur of the moment trips.

See New Places

55% will visit a new destination this summer

24% will sometimes visit the same destination

22% do tend to visit the same destination

Top Travel Concerns: Money, Health, Weather

The poll reveals that most summer travelers are concerned about overspending, health issues and bad weather affecting travel. Here is the list of concerns in order of popularity:

  • Overspending
  • Health issues before or during a trip
  • Hurricane or bad weather affecting travel plans
  • Missing a flight
  • Bad experience with food or accommodations

Plans for Travel Budget

The survey also asked how much travelers planned to spend on a vacation. Nearly half polled (47 percent) will spend over $1500 on a vacation budget. Thirty-one percent will spend over $5000.

Europe, Europe, Europe

With the strong US dollar, it is not surprising to find more Americans booking trips to Europe this summer and taking advantage of a bargain. The cheapest times to fly to Europe are now and the end of August.

  • June is the most popular month for European travel
  • Prices peak at the end of July

Related Stories:

Managing Medical Records on the Road

Google+ author

Like us, Join us

  Facebook