Holidaymakers are facing an increased risk of being caught up in a terrorist incident, according to US Government data analysed by travel insurer InsureandGo.
Figures from the US National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) show that the number of terrorist incidents around the world has increased by 6,249% since 2003 – from 175 that year to 11,111 in 2005, the last full year for which data is available.
Of the 40,000 people killed or injured by terrorist incidents in 2005, 14,500 (36%) were civilians.
Despite the increased risk of terrorism, most travel insurance companies' policies contain exclusions for any claims made following terrorist attacks.
InsureandGo said it is therefore calling on all insurers to follow its lead and remove their exclusions to ensure all customers are covered.
Perry Wilson, director of InsureandGo, said: “As these figures show, terrorism is an unfortunate fact of the modern world and insurance providers have a responsibility to their customers to offer a suitable range of policies to reflect this. Considering that tourists are becoming much more adventurous in their holiday choices, increasingly travelling to areas like the Middle East, South-East Asia and South America, where terrorism is a much more common occurrence, it's outrageous that terrorism exclusions on travel insurance policies have not been removed before.”
If a terrorist attack does occur, those travelling abroad without relevant insurance and caught up in the incident could have to pay expensive medical bills.
Although many of the 11,111 attacks counted in the NCTC study occurred in Iraq, 2005 also saw terrorist incidents in the UK (the 7th July attacks in London), and in countries regularly visited by millions of Britons each year, including Spain, Bali, Egypt, Jordan, Colombia, the Philippines, Nepal and Uganda.
