Do I Need To Purchase Travel Insurance For Schoolies Week?

Schoolies Week is a rite of passage for Australian teenagers completing their final year of high school.

For thousands of Aussie teenagers, it means a week-long party with friends before they go on to further study, work or travel.

The most popular destinations for schoolies are coastal holiday hotspots like the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast or Airlie Beach in Queensland. Others travel further afield to overseas destinations in Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands or Europe for a holiday, or to volunteer for a cause they’re passionate about.

No matter where your child is heading to for schoolies week, it’s important to purchase travel insurance to ensure they have cover in place for unexpected emergencies.

There’s always risks to travelling, whether it’s domestically within Australia or overseas. So if your child is travelling this year for schoolies, it’s important to find a travel insurance policy which will provide cover for potential emergencies such as overseas injuries, overseas sicknesses, unexpected cancellations and lost or stolen luggage.

Why should I purchase travel insurance for schoolies week?

There are a few key travel insurance benefits for schoolies, such as:

Overseas emergency medical expenses

Each year, it seems that a schoolies traveller seriously injures themselves in Bali or Thailand.

If your child travels overseas, there is the chance they can become injured or sick. Simply falling over can result in a broken bone and a hospital visit. There is also always the risk of eating a local meal and getting a stomach bug that results in severe dehydration, or coming down with a different illness.

Travel insurance can provide cover for the costs of consultations with doctors, hospitalisation and treatment costs, the cost of pharmaceuticals or surgery if it’s required, and even emergency repatriation if your child needs to return home to Australia for treatment.

Cancellations

Holidays aren’t cheap! Schoolies can involve booking plane tickets, hotels or backpackers accommodation, perhaps a tour or ticket to an event and even a rental car.

If they become sick or injured before travelling, or a natural disaster forces them to cancel their travel plans, it could mean you lose hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Luggage and personal belongings

No doubt when your child goes to schoolies they’ll take along their phone, maybe a camera or Gopro, and maybe even a laptop along with their clothes and baggage.

In all the excitement, there’s always the chance that these belongings become lost, stolen or damaged. Travel insurance can provide financial cover for your child’s belongings so that you don’t have to pay the whole amount for brand new items.

24-hour emergency assistance

If your child is sick or injured, travel insurance also includes access to a professional emergency assistance team to offer advice or assistance. The emergency assistance team can:

• Liaise with doctors and hospital staff
• Organise emergency transport
• Organise to have a translator available
• Contact family members at home
• Help arrange for parents to be with their travelling child in emergency situations

This is just naming a few ways the emergency assistance team can support your child when they travel.

To better understand the benefits included in a travel insurance policy, be sure to always read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).

Should I purchase travel insurance for an Australian schoolies holiday?

Even though teens are still covered by Medicare or private health insurance within Australia, domestic travel insurance policies can provide cover for a variety of unexpected situations.

Examples of the benefits you can find include cover for:

Cancellations

Covers the costs of flights and pre-booked hotels or backpacker accommodation if your child becomes sick or injured and can’t go to schoolies, or a relative unexpectedly becomes sick or injured and your child has to stay home.

Luggage and personal affects

This includes cover for mobile phones, laptops, clothes, cameras and belongings if they are lost, stolen or damaged.

Travel delays expenses

So that your child has cover for the food and other costs that come with a flight delay due to a natural disaster or other unforeseen event. 

Special event transport expenses

If your child has prepaid for activities as a part of their trip, such as a sporting event or a sight-seeing tour, and their planned transport is delayed, this benefit allows them to arrange an alternative way of getting to those activities on time.

Personal liability

This benefit provides cover for the costs incurred if your child damages property, or accidentally injures someone else.

If your child is heading to the Gold Coast to celebrate with thousands of other Australian teenagers, it is well worth considering purchasing a travel insurance policy so that they’re covered.

What doesn’t domestic travel insurance provide cover for?

Travel insurance policies for travel in Australia are different in the benefits they provide.

The following benefits which can apply to overseas travel insurance policies may not apply to domestic travel insurance policies:

Medical cover

Because your child is travelling in Australia, they will be covered for medical emergencies by Medicare and any private health cover in place.

Travel documents

Your passport isn’t required for travelling domestically, so the costs of a lost, stolen or damaged passport won’t be covered.

Theft of cash

This may not be covered by your insurer if you’re simply travelling in Australia.

Note that cover may also differ depending on the type of policy purchased, such as Comprehensive, Standard or Basic (Medical Only).

Always read the insurer’s Product Disclosure Statement to understand which benefits are included and excluded in each travel insurance policy.

What exclusions are there to Schoolies travel insurance?

There are a few common exclusions to travel insurance that it’s important to be aware of, and to discuss with your child before they go to schoolies. These are instances where your child may not be covered if they become sick or injured, regardless of having travel insurance in place.

Safe Schoolies Travels

Schoolies is a time to celebrate and enjoy a holiday with friends, whether in Australia or overseas. But whenever you travel you face the chance of running into trouble or unexpected expenses.

For example, having to cancel your flight because of a volcanic ash cloud in Bali, or a tropical cyclone in north Queensland. Your health is also at risk when you travel to new destinations. If you get sick you may have to pay for a visit to the doctor, a trip to the hospital, or even an emergency evacuation home to Australia.

Before travelling, consider having insurance cover in place for schoolies week.

Looking for travel insurance that provides cover for a schoolies holiday? Get an instant online quote by clicking the button below!

*Stories are fictitious examples drawn from the experiences of Fast Cover travellers and staff. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.