How to navigate travel insurance ahead of spring break as pandemic restrictions ease
Posted February 23, 2022 12:18 pm.
Last Updated February 23, 2022 12:38 pm.
MONTREAL — Canadians looking to get away for spring break now have a more robust range of travel insurance options.
The federal government announced last week it will roll back testing and quarantine restrictions effective this coming Monday and will also lift its blanket advisory against trips abroad.
That last move means an insured traveller can get full coverage if they suffer a medical emergency on foreign soil due to COVID-19, as companies add the virus to their polices again after removing it when Ottawa rolled out its travel warning in December.
If tourists test positive they will still have to wait 10 days before returning to Canada, a cost they can hedge with trip interruption coverage.
However, travel insurance broker Marty Firestone says insurers continue to leave out pandemics from their trip cancellation coverage, meaning payments for resort packages or short-term rentals could be lost should border closures resume.
Airlines and travel agents say bookings are on the rise again as the Omicron-fuelled surge in cases recedes and Canadians locked at home for much of the past two years clamber for escape to warmer weather.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 23, 2022.
Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press
