Travel insurance: don’t drink and ski

As Christmas approaches, we’ll soon be seeing the inevitable Christmas drink driving campaign, with hard hitting adverts reminding us of this sensible policy. But many people may not consider this when heading off for a winter break. One of the reasons to lay off the liquor is because of your travel insurance. Many policies will not pay out on a claim if you’ve been drinking or under the influence of drugs when you get injured. So après ski should be après ski – no heading back to the slopes after a couple of gluhweins.

Recent research shows that male winter sports enthusiasts spend an average of four hours a day on the slopes, while women spend about three and a half hours. Some 13 per cent of Scots spend more than six hours a day on the slopes.

Only half of winter sports enthusiasts have insured themselves against injury or accidents and 28 per cent of them do not have winter sports cover. Travel insurance seems a low priority for many skiers, with 22 per cent not even being able to remember whether they had insurance. Only half of the people heading to the slopes were sure they were adequately covered.

When it comes to travel insurance for winter sports, one policy certainly doesn’t fit them all. In fact, many no frills policies will not cover these activities as standard. It’s worth shopping around and reading the fine print. Make sure you’re clued up about exclusions – your glasses might not be covered if you damage them or lose them in the snow.

And there’s more to winter sports than just skiing, so if you’re planning to do a little snowboarding or snow tubing, you’ll need to make sure that’s covered. The best advice is not to assume you’re covered – always check before jetting off.