New travel advice – more cancellations – almost half will fly less in the future

From Saturday 5th September, the government has decided that Italy, San Marino, the Vatican City State and Slovenia will be red, and with that comes more cancellations. New figures now show that 4 out of 10 Norwegians will fly less than usual even after the pandemic is over.

Gjensidige already has 50,000 cases, and most of them are cancellations.

“We expect more questions from Norwegians who have planned a trip to Italy”, says communications manager Bjarne Rysstad in Gjensidige. He also believes that the survey on travel habits (Opinion for Gjensidige) may indicate that the pandemic will leave some lasting traces.

“These are very interesting numbers. The results show that people, especially the elderly, have planned changes in travel habits, even after the pandemic”, he says.

But one does not know what will actually happen.”We believe that attitudes will probably change over time, and that the changes in behavior will not be as great as people express now”, Rysstad says.

One question is whether there will actually be a real shift in travel habits even in a few years when COVID-19 is hopefully over.

“We think travel is perhaps the area that will be most affected by the pandemic in the long term. This may be both because people, to a lesser extent, want to travel far away on holiday, but also because these types of travel can become more expensive, for example as a result of bankruptcies in the travel industry, he says.

We help customers with this

If you are already in a country or region that goes from yellow to red, you will be covered by the travel insurance in the usual way.

If for some reason you choose to defy the Foreign Ministry’s advice and travel to an area that is red, Gjensidige’s travel insurance still covers incidents that are not related to COVID-19.

Those who have booked travel to the countries that now go from yellow to red will, as a result of the new travel advice, be reimbursed for cancellation if the trip was booked while the country was yellow (or green).

In general, it is recommended to wait to cancel until as close to the day of departure as possible. Always check first with the tour operator which expenses are reimbursed from there. Any excess expenses are reimbursed through the travel insurance.

To customers who are already in countries that go from yellow to red: Stay up to date on the situation and follow the local infection control measures. Also contact the tour operator or airline to make sure that the return journey is as normal.

This is not covered

As soon as the situation changes, Gjensidige does not recommend booking travel now.

The insurance does not give the right to compensation for accelerated travel home or lost holiday days if the holiday is interrupted because the infection situation in the country you are in changes, or the country you are in changes from yellow to red.

For example, if you want to rebook your trip to avoid the quarantine obligation, any additional expenses must be paid out of pocket. The insurance also does not cover extended hotel stays as a result of a possible quarantine. This is a risk you take if you choose to travel in such an unpredictable time as now.

Gjensidige / #Norway Today