Mind the Gap

An ever-popular option for students and graduates is the Gap Year but new research carried out by gapyear.com, the website which is dedicated to young people who want to travel before embarking on a university degree and prior to entering the world of work, has made the worrying discovery that a large number of these adventurers do not have the correct level of travel insurance.

Most young people choose to explore the world before continuing on to higher education and are therefore unwise as to the practical necessity of organising insurance for themselves. A large number are allocated financial support from parents, and in turn relinquish all financial and practical responsibility to them. When it comes to booking a trip, a large number of young people assume that their parents will take care of all the relevant documentation, including travel insurance. Furthermore, it is usually the parents who foot the bill if their under-insured children are involved in an accident or require medical attention abroad.

According to the research conducted by gapyear.com, over 25% of those who had elected to take a gap year abroad did not have adequate insurance and a large proportion had no insurance cover whatsoever. Not having to consider the importance of insurance in everyday life, young people can take an ambivalent attitude towards the importance of travel insurance and view it as a hindrance to the excitement of the adventure they are planning.

Moreover, there are some travellers who are of the misguided opinion that travel insurance is only a requirement if the trip involves the participation in extreme sporting activities, for example, skiing. However, a claim is actually more commonly made for an injury sustained during a mundane or unexpected activity. In addition, food poisoning is a common grievance of travellers who are more often than not visiting countries with different customs and dishes, which may be too exotic for a British constitution.

Tom Griffiths, the founder of gapyear.com, states that with the travel and backpacker market growing and a startlingly increasing number of people travelling without insurance, people could end up faced with remortgaging or losing their home, in addition to their life savings and other personal possessions as a result of bills of up to £50,000 incurred due to irresponsible travel etiquette.

NatWest determines that 24%, which makes up 93,813 university students, elected to take a gap year in 2006, deferring their education to the following year. So, in addition to ignoring the necessary guidelines for safe and responsible travel, in terms of acquiring the travel insurance cover appropriate to their needs, one could argue that these young people are making a mistake by prioritising travel over university education. The reason for this is that not only will the student further his or her academic knowledge but, for most, university is the first opportunity that they will have to live away from home and the safety of parental guidance and support and therefore will learn the value of the mundane necessities in life, including having an adequate insurance policy.