One in Seven Australians Fly Overseas With Zero Travel Insurance, and Vietnam’s Storm Season Just Made This the Worst Week to Try It

Money & Insurance One in seven Australians flew overseas with zero cover last trip, and Vietnam’s storm season just gave that gamble its worst possible timing. By Laxman Rawal · Sep 25, 2026 Read the full story

One in seven Australians — 14 percent — took their most recent overseas trip with no travel insurance at all, according to a joint survey by the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) and Smartraveller, conducted by Quantum Market Research and published 21… Travel Himalaya Nepal · News Read the full story

How many Australians actually skip travel insurance

The joint ICA and Smartraveller survey of 1,001 travellers found 14 percent went on their last overseas trip with absolutely no cover — a figure that climbs to 23 percent among travellers under 30. Most were not simply careless: 65 percent said they had… Travel Himalaya Nepal · News Read the full story

What is happening in Vietnam right now that makes this the wrong week to gamble

Vietnam is now one of Australia's fastest-growing outbound destinations: almost 520,000 Australians visited in 2025, up 19 percent on the year before, with arrivals through the first seven months of 2026 running 22.5 percent higher again. Smartraveller's… Travel Himalaya Nepal · News Read the full story

The exclusions catching people out

The awareness gap is not only about whether people buy a policy — it is about what the policy they buy actually covers. Ninety-three percent of insured travellers in the same survey did not know about at least one common exclusion in their own policy. A few… Travel Himalaya Nepal · News Read the full story

What this means if you are planning a Nepal trek instead

What this means for you Buy travel insurance before you need it, not after a storm or a headline makes the risk obvious — that is the exact moment insurers stop treating it as an accident. And read the altitude line on your policy: a standard travel policy… Travel Himalaya Nepal · News Read the full story

Does travel insurance cover storms and flooding in Vietnam?

Usually, if the policy was bought before the storm was named or widely reported. Once a specific storm is public knowledge, a known-event exclusion can apply — buy cover before you book, not after the forecast turns bad. Travel Himalaya Nepal · News Read the full story

What is a known-event exclusion?

It is a clause that lets an insurer decline a claim for a risk — a strike, a storm, an outbreak — that was already publicly known when the policy was purchased. It rewards buying insurance early. Travel Himalaya Nepal · News Read the full story

Does standard travel insurance cover trekking in Nepal?

Not always above a certain altitude. Many standard policies cap medical and evacuation cover at a specific altitude and require a separate high-altitude or adventure-activity rider for treks that go higher, including most Everest and Annapurna routes. Travel Himalaya Nepal · News Read the full story

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