Insurance companies seem unwilling to bet the transtasman bubble will not burst.
If quarantine periods are reintroduced, the added costs of travellers’ trips appear unlikely to be covered, travel agents say.
If travellers catch the disease, they could be in the clear.
Yesterday, when Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced New Zealand’s new transtasman border rules, she said there would be no support from the Government if anyone became stuck in Australia.
People would need to plan for the possibility of having travel disrupted if there was an outbreak, she said.
And in Dunedin, travel broker Vincent George, of Vincent George Travel, said one insurance company he used, CoverMore, indicated travellers who contracted Covid-19 would be covered by travel insurance.
If travellers contracted Covid and were forced into isolation without a lockdown occurring, then reasonable additional accommodation and transport expenses would be paid, Mr George said.
Flight Centre NZ managing director David Coombes echoed the same advice.
There was no current insurance policy that would cover an extended stay for a customer in the case of a state-wide lockdown, he said.
But CoverMore offered cover for most other Covid-19 related disruptions including a customer or close contact contracting the virus, he said.
