Interest in terrorism insurance coverage at all-time high
Fort Lauderdale airport shooting. Stockholm truck attack. St. Petersburg Metro explosion. London Parliament attack.
These are just a handful of the horrific acts of terror that have taken place around the world in recent months. Beyond the senseless devastation that they have caused when viewed as isolated incidents, the volume in occurrences of such terrible magnitude at popular tourist destinations has caused interest in terrorism insurance coverage to reach an all-time high.
That claim comes courtesy of Squaremouth, the leading American comparison tool for travel insurance. According to its data, the number of customers who have specifically searched for and purchased a policy with terrorism coverage has increased by 280 per cent over the past three years. The past year alone has contributed 165 per cent of that growth.
It is those who are considering European trips that have quantifiably displayed the most concern. In the three-year time frame, those searching for terrorism coverage during the buying process increased by 332 percent.
Everywhere on Squaremouth's top 10 destinations list has seen significant increases to the number of terrorism insurance buyers. Here is a breakdown of those destinations, along with their increase levels in brackets:
- United States (+268%)
- Mexico (+364%)
- Italy (242%)
- Canada (+313%)
- United Kingdom (+344%)
- France (+351%)
- Spain (+470%)
- Bahamas (+290%)
- Germany (+506%)
- Israel (+49%)
Trip cancellations that are related to terrorist attacks will be covered by terrorism insurance when the events are deemed an act of terrorism by the U.S. Department of State, occur within 7-30 days of the traveler's departure date (though some policies can override this), and take place in/near a city on the traveler's itinerary. Additionally, the policy must have been purchased prior to the attack.