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We all know friends who are adrenaline junkies. Those who get kicks out of taking crazy risks and going on wild adventures all around the world. Heck, maybe you're thinking: That's me.
We all know how important travel insurance is, but if you're planning a ski trip, scuba diving trip or something even crazier than that, then you need to know which travel insurance cover extreme sports and outdoor adventure.
Here are six things you need to pay attention to when buying any sort of adventure sports travel insurance.
1. Best travel insurance for outdoor sports
Planning your long-awaited trip overseas with your pals for scuba diving, rock climbing, skiing or snowboarding?
Remember to get travel insurance that covers your winter sports, water sports, or mountaineering and rock climbing (usually considered more dangerous).
When browsing travel insurance plans, you'll realise that sports and adventure are usually split into three broad categories:
Leisure and recreational outdoor activities: Hot air balloon, scuba diving (up to 30m/40m, guided by licensed instructors, with PADI certification), skiing and snowboarding in resorts, hiking or trekking (up to 3,000m), jet ski, white water rafting, skydiving, paragliding, hang gliding, parachuting etc
Other more extreme sports: Bungee jumping, mountaineering, rock climbing (any climbing that involves ropes and equipment)
Competitions (not covered across all insurance companies): Marathons, ultra-marathons, biathlons, triathlons, cycling and obstacle races
This table below is a general comparison. Click in to each travel insurance review to see the specific outdoor activities they cover:
Travel insurance | Leisure outdoor activities | Bungee, rock climbing |
FWD travel insurance | Yes | Yes |
Income Travel Insurance | Scuba diving (up t0 30m), ski, winter sports, hiking, trekking (below 4,000m) only | Yes, but climbing only on man-made walls. |
MSIG Travel Insurance | Yes | Yes, but rock climbing must be done harnessed and on man-made walls. |
Singlife Travel Insurance | Hot air ballooning, bungee jumping, parasailing, tandem sky diving, tandem paragliding, tandem hang gliding, zip lining and flying fox. Option to add covers for winter sports and adventurous water sports. | No |
DBS Chubb Travel Insurance | Yes, for Premier Plan & Platinum Plan only | Yes, for Premier Plan & Platinum Plan only |
Great Eastern Travel Insurance | Yes, for Gold and Platinum plans only | Yes, for Gold and Platinum plans only, and climbing only on artificial walls |
Sompo Travel Insurance | Yes | Rock climbing only if done on man-made walls. |
Etiqa Travel Insurance | Yes | Bungee jumping only |
Direct Asia Travel Insurance | Buy rider (annual policy only) | Yes, for Gold and Platinum plans only |
Citibank Travel Insurance (by DirectAsia) | Buy rider (annual policy only) | Buy rider (annual policy only) |
Tokio Marine Travel Insurance | Yes | Yes |
UOB Travel Insurance | Buy add-on adventure sports cover | Buy add-on adventure sports cover |
OCBC Travel Insurance | Yes, for Gold or Platinum Plan only | Yes, for Gold or Platinum Plan only |
2. What are the common outdoor adventure exclusions for travel insurance?
Even if your travel insurance plan claims that it covers outdoor adventure and extreme sports, there will still be exclusions-a.k.a. activities that your insurance company is not willing to cover. Here are a few major examples:
Any professional competitions or sports in which you get paid, sponsored or receive any kind of financial reward
Any leisurely contact sport or MMA classes such as Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ)
Mountaineering or rock climbing that involves ropes and climbing equipment, especially if it's done unharnessed and outdoors on a wall that is not man-made
Expeditions to inaccessible, remote or previously unexplored places
Being the pilot or a crew member of an aircraft (except for your commercial flights eg. SQ)
You'll be surprised that most marathons are not covered by travel insurance since there's a grand prize you technically can win.
Now, you might say that you're probably not going to do any of these sports. But between insurance companies, there are different standards as to what's allowed, so always check your terms and conditions before you buy your travel insurance.
Lazy? Scroll up and you can read through our travel insurance reviews instead. We've scoured through policy wordings and terms and conditions for their outdoor adventure and extreme sports coverage.
3. What are the common personal accident and personal liability exclusions?
While some travel insurance seems to have a comprehensive coverage, you have to make sure that the activity that you are doing is covered under Personal Accident or Personal Liability.
For instance, if you got the Singlife travel insurance and decided to buy the Adventurous Water Sports rider as well, you will be covered for all the usual scuba diving (up to 40m), white water rafting, kayaking, yachting, wakeboarding etc.
You'll have to scroll to the end of your policy wording to check out the terms and conditions. Singlife travel insurance states that it covers you for:
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