Travel insurance is no luxury

Hundreds of thousands of rands at stake

Travel insurance is nothing new. However, there are still people who go on holiday, locally and overseas, without taking out adequate travel insurance. For years after their "holiday", many of them continue paying for irresponsible decisions.

The cost of travel insurance is minimal when compared with the cost of the flight and accommodation overseas. However, the potential loss is astronomical, says IntegriSure managing director Arnold van der Linde.

For some or other reason, people think theft is something that occurs only in South Africa. However, South Africans are often robbed on foreign holidays.

If, in addition, you have to bear the cost of, say, an injury during a skiing holiday, it could amount to hundreds of thousands of rands if helicopter flights and lengthy overseas medical treatment are required.

Travel insurance is like any other insurance where you buy peace of mind, van der Linde says.

The tragedy is that people sometimes plan and save for a dream holiday for a long time. And if something goes wrong, your dream, your holiday and all your savings are lost - unless you were insured.