While going on a gap year before setting off to university might seem like a great choice for many, it has emerged that some teens are leaving themselves "unwittingly" in danger, by failing to take out travel insurance.
Furthermore, the founder of gapyear.com has claimed that some gap year goers have left themselves "under-insured" by assuming that all of their planned activities are covered by their budget travel insurance policy.
According to statistics from the website, this problem affects around one-quarter of all gap year students.
Tom Griffiths, company founder, added: "I think it's less about getting the budget option as opposed to the brilliant option; it's about what you include in your policy and what you don't include.
"The classic one for this market is going to New Zealand and going skiing. They're essentially doing a hot round-the-world route, doing all these beaches and places -Australia because of the summer - and then New Zealand where they can ski, or do a glacier walk. And they're not covered," he said.
"People unwittingly take risks - they don't realise," Mr Griffiths surmised.
The problem is also not just confined to teens: gapyear.com's survey also took into account "grown up gappers" - post-retirement travellers aged 55-65, around 200,000 of which were identified by the company.
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