Best Winter Sports Travel Insurance – An Overview

If you are a sports lover and like to explore different sports across the world, it is essential to get yourself insured with sports insurance. However, with different insurance providers offering specific insurance plans for different sports, it becomes necessary to understand the fundamentals of winter sports travel insurance in our discussion.

In this article, we will uncover all the crucial information about the best winter sports travel insurance.

What is Winter Sports Travel Insurance?

Winter sports such as skiing, ice hockey, ice fishing, snowmobiling, and others, while exhilarating, can also prove dangerous at times. Individuals can often injure themselves while being engaged in such sports. As there can be substantial financial losses related to medical expenses or loss of personal belongings in such instances, it is always advised to get travel insurance winter sports cover for yourself.

With a winter sports travel insurance plan, the policyholder can get covered for their personal losses and/or medical emergencies resulting from injuries due to their involvement in winter sports. Under a winter sports travel insurance policy, you can either opt for single-trip travel insurance or annual multi-trip travel insurance.

Types of Plans Covered Under Winter Sports Travel Insurance

Depending on the type of traveller you are, you can make a selection between the two types of travel insurance for winter sports – single trip and annual multi-trip travel insurance.

• Single-Trip Travel Insurance: This type of travel insurance can be availed of by individuals who don’t travel frequently, i.e., at most once or twice a year. This type of travel insurance covers only one trip made by an individual in its entirety. Once purchased, winter sports travel insurance is valid from the day your trip starts and ends after you reach the UAE.
• Annual Multi-Trip Travel Insurance: Individuals travelling more than twice or thrice in a year can avail of an annual multi-trip travel insurance policy. Policyholders buying this type of insurance get coverage for all the trips that they make in an entire year.

For frequent travellers, multi-trip travel insurance is a wise option. Besides reducing the hassle of getting insurance for each trip, this type of travel insurance is also less costly compared to the collective cost of getting a plan for each.

Benefits of Winter Sports Travel Insurance

Getting your trip secured with winter sports travel insurance can provide you with numerous benefits advantages like the following –

1. Coverage Against Unexpected Events

Visiting a new place could put an individual in situations they never expected, whether an accident or any other such scenario. Travel insurance companies make sure that you remain financially protected amidst such unforeseen situations and pay out for legitimate claims, like the ones related to lost bags and medical expenses, for instance.

2. Cover for Emergency Medical Expenses

It can be expensive and challenging to get emergency medical care in a foreign nation. This cost is also covered by a travel insurance policy, which allows you to receive appropriate treatment in the best hospitals. Each country where an international travel insurance plan is valid has a predetermined network list. You can simply receive healthcare services through any of the network hospitals.

3. Coverage for Your Personal Belongings

Insurance, whether travel or any other, is a great choice when it comes to having coverage against the loss of your personal possessions such as baggage, wallets, documents, and others. Running into such a problem when away from home can be even more stressful. However, travel insurance plans can offer you coverage and help you make replacement arrangements.

What is Included in a Winter Sports Travel Insurance Policy?

Insurance providers offer a plethora of coverages to financially protect you against losses that you may incur while performing any winter sports –

• Medical Expenses and Repatriation – This coverage will cover the costs related to the treatment of an injury or disease as well as the repatriation of mortal remains back home in case the policyholder passes away.
• Flight Cancellation or Curtailment – If your trip gets cancelled or cut short, you can get covered for the non-refundable amount from your insurance company.
• Delays and Missed Flight Departures – With winter sports travel insurance, you can get coverage for the expenses incurred if your flight gets delayed due to some technical issue or any other event. 
• Lost or Stolen Luggage – Insurance companies include this type of coverage in their travel insurance plans to cover the policyholder in case their baggage is lost or stolen.
• Extreme Winter Sports – As part of winter sports travel insurance, individuals get financial protection against any injuries caused during adventure sports and activities such as trekking, skiing, snowboarding, skeletons, ice fishing, ice hockey, and more. One must make sure to check the policy wording to know the list of sports covered. Some common winter sports that are included with most winter sports travel insurance plans are skiing, glacier walking, skeletons, snowmobiling, snowboarding, ice fishing, tobogganing, bobsleighing, and ice climbing.
• Personal liability – This covers the cost of any injury or damages accidentally caused by the policyholder. However, this type of claim is valid only if the mishap was not caused by the effect of alcohol or drug consumption. 
• COVID-19  – As the pandemic remains a global concern, insurance companies provide coverage against COVID-19. In case the policyholder tests positive for the disease during their travel, the provider can cover the financial losses incurred as well as the treatment costs. 

What is Not Included in Winter Sports Travel Insurance?

Although the list of exclusions differs for each provider, here is a list of standard exclusions applicable for winter sports travel insurance.

• Coverage against health conditions that existed before the insurance period started
• Damages or injuries incurred by visiting a place that had previously been advised against (due to natural disasters, terrorism threats, epidemics, and more)
• Injuries or liabilities incurred due to drug or alcohol consumption
• Claims made due to health conditions resulting from inadequate vaccinations and immunisations before your trip

Add-On Plans Covered Under Winter Sports Travel Insurance

The following is the list of common add-ons offered by most insurance companies in the UAE for winter sports travel insurance plans –

• Golf cover
• Business cover
• Terrorism cover
• Excess waiver
• Hazardous activities cover

How to File a Claim for Winter Sports Travel Insurance?

Discussed below are the steps to be kept in mind when making a claim for your winter sports travel insurance in different scenarios –

• Claim for Stolen or Theft of Personal Belongings – The first step that you must take in such a situation is to inform the police immediately and have a report registered for your case. You can then notify your insurance provider about the loss/theft. Obtain a claim form from the website of your provider, fill it up, and submit it after attaching all the necessary documents including the police report. Once your claim is verified by your provider, you will get compensation from them.
• Claim for Emergency Medical Expenses – Give a call to your insurance company and inform them about your need for emergency medical assistance. You can then visit a network healthcare centre close to you and submit your winter sports travel insurance documents. Your treatment will start after the submitted documents are verified – the final expenses can be paid by your insurance company.
• Claims for Travel Inconvenience – Besides the situations described above, individuals can make claims for trip cancellations, flight curtailments, and delays as reimbursement claims. Similar to the other scenarios, you would need to fill out the claim form here with all the necessary details related to the inconvenience. This form can be submitted along with the documents regarding your flight, hotel bookings, and more. You will receive the compensation once your claim is examined and approved by your provider.

Process of Purchasing a Winter Sports Travel Insurance

To secure your trip with the best winter sports travel insurance, you can simply browse through the websites of different providers and search for the most suitable plans online. To ease the process, you can shortlist a few insurance products and make the final selection by going through all the available plans and the coverages offered. You can then check all the terms and conditions and complete the payment to get your winter sports travel insurance easily.

Apart from the online mode discussed above, you can also purchase travel insurance winter sports cover offline if you face any issues in buying insurance online. For this, you can visit your nearest provider and connect with one of their representatives who will guide you. Complete the process as per the specified instructions and make the payment to get this type of travel insurance for yourself.

Key Takeaways

Getting a winter sports travel insurance policy could prove useful to cover you against any mishap that may arise during your trip and involvement in winter sports. You can get the best winter sports travel insurance for yourself by finding a few plans for the same and comparing them as per their features, inclusions, exclusions, premiums, and more.

If you have any queries regarding winter sports travel insurance, you can reach out to us at oolicybazaar.ae and get assistance from one of our professionals.

Policybazaar UAE – Helping you navigate the wilderness of the insurance world!