The world is our playground and thanks to the Internet , air miles, last minute flights and cheaper and cheaper long haul travel we have more access than ever, but it isn’t always the dream holiday we planned.

It seems that every year we are hearing about more and more incidents effecting holiday makers abroad. Family holiday destinations being ravaged by national disasters and even acts of terrorism. Places that were once considered totally safe and could be booked without worry are now requiring more research and consideration before booking that fantastically priced all inclusive package.

Disaster striking while you’re on holiday shouldn’t be your greatest concern as the risk is relatively low but it should still definitely be a consideration, especially when it comes to insuring yourself.

Recent reports have shown that some of the top holiday destinations have been experiencing disasters that have claimed lives, including Mexico who had two earthquakes in the space of weeks that killed over 360 people. More recently we have seen the extreme impact weather conditions can have on a place, trying to find a destination that does not experience flooding, wildfires and deadly storms with be a hard task. Even Europe have recently been experiencing some extreme weather conditions recently which is a far cry from how safe and predictable people have always considered it to be. From the death of 70 people killed in wildfires in Greece to a British couple losing their lives in a false flood in Sant Lorenc, Majorca, Europe is becoming less of a safe bet holiday destination.

The amount of British people Holidaying abroad is on the rise despite all of this and is set to keep increasing. The ABTA’s Holiday Trends Report 2108 showed that this yeah the amount of people planning on taking a foreign holiday this year was 60% which is the highest it has been since 2011 and that destinations like Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia are significantly up on bookings this summer despite bouts of terrorism in recent years. A survey carried out by Silver Travel Advisor reported that 63% of respondents said they would not take a holiday where there had been terrorist attacks. Those claims seemed to be very short lived though.

Indonesia is one of many countries that are impoverished and rely on tourism for money. Indonesia had a tsunami in September in which a lot of the devastation could have been minimised has their detection devices been functional at the time. Their disaster agency admitted that their 22 deep water buoys had not been functional since 2012 and people are putting it down to underfunding and lack of coordination by the government. Despite all of this the number of Brits travelling to Indonesia has doubled since 2010 and 360,000 British nationals have visited Indonesian islands in the last 12 months.

Business sectors within, and tied to, the travel industry like insurers are switching up their products to offer a wider range of coverage to support the drive to travel all over the world, making sure people are covered and protected against terrorism and national disaster.

For example, Insure4Retirement, a specialist Over 50s Home and Travel insurance provider, in partnership with Just Travel Cover, offer a Crisis Response Service with their Ready2Go Gold travel policy.

A unique selling point of this cover is that, should disaster strike while you’re away there is a dedicated team at hand with set skills to help you on a phone number which gives travellers access to immediate assistance. The service is provided by S-RM who has a team of crisis response consultants made up of former military, law enforcement and intelligence agency personnel, strategically positioned around the world to provide assistance during a crisis.

Tourism is an industry that will forever bounce back, especially as there are some nations that rely solely on this industry to boost their economy. Efforts will always be made to restore the effected areas as quickly as possible to welcome the tourists back. It’s only natural for tourist numbers to decrease after a disaster but everything shows that the lack of visitors won’t last very long. People love to travel, and the rewards greatly outweigh the risks. One way to ensure you have the best holiday possible is to minimise the risk by proper planning and having cover in place to quell your worries and be able to just enjoy yourself.