Will my destination impact the cost of my travel insurance?

While your chosen destination does play a part in the cost of your travel insurance, it may not be in the way you expect. Whether you are travelling to London, England, or Orlando, Florida, the destinations do not hold a lot of weight when calculating the price of your coverage. The vast majority of the cost is instead determined by other factors, such as age and medical history. When it comes to the destination, most insurers look at it in two main groupings: travel within Canada, and travel outside Canada.

Travelling within Canada

Yes, you need to get travel insurance even if you are travelling within Canada. While your friends or co-workers may tell you differently, travelling out of your home province puts you at risk of fronting a medical bill if something goes awry. Your traditional health care cannot provide you with complete coverage out of province, which is where travel insurance comes in. Your travel insurance will be able to fill in any gaps left in your traditional coverage while exploring our beautiful home country.

Luckily, if you are travelling within Canada, coverage tends to be less expensive compared with travelling to an out-of-country destination.

Travelling outside Canada

One myth about travel insurance is that travelling somewhere close to your border versus across the pond on a different continent will be cheaper, but with most insurers that just isn’t true. The vast majority of insurers lump all out of country destinations together and weigh them the same when calculating the cost of your policy. Typically, when applying for travel insurance, your broker will only ask if you are travelling within Canada or outside of the country.

This means that it doesn’t matter if you are travelling halfway across the world to Australia, or just heading down to New York City to take in a show, you will pay the same amount. And while international travel insurance does tend to cost more than domestic travel insurance, there are ways that you can keep the costs down. A great way to ensure you get the best price for the coverage you need is to use an online travel insurance quoting tool!

High-risk travel activities

If you are travelling to a destination for the sole purpose of participating in an activity such as skiing or snowboarding, you may find that you’ll need to get extra travel insurance. The added protection will help to cover any costs associated with the higher-risk activities you take part in while travelling both within and outside of Canada.

Travel Advisories

Be sure to check any travel advisories for your travel destination. If you travel to a location with a travel advisory, your travel insurance can become void, leaving you vulnerable if you still choose to travel. It is strongly suggested that you re-think your travel plans if your chosen location has a travel advisory in place.

If a travel advisory is put in place after booking your trip and obtaining your travel insurance, you should speak to your broker; you can often get some of the costs refunded.