With several incidents happening to Vietnamese travellers abroad, tourists are advised to buy travel insurance ahead of their trips. However, many travellers have not yet paid due attention to this type of insurance.

Hot bloggers and Youtubers on July 23 shared a tragic story of a young man Nguyen Hoang Hieu Dan, who died during his trip to Bali islands in Indonesia while his parents could not afford to bring his remains home as he had bought no travel insurance. By the end of 2018, four tourists, including three Vietnamese, died while 12 others were injured during a bomb attack in Egypt. But the story was different as they were all compensated. The insurance company also took care of carrying the unlucky visitors’ remains home. According to the Law on Tourism, travel agents are required to buy global travel insurance for visitors taking outbound tours organised by the firms. However, the provision does not apply to independent travellers. Therefore, a lot of solo travellers do not opt for this type of insurance. The fee for travel insurance only accounts for a tiny part of tour price, which are only a few US cents per day for inbound tours and nearly two USD for outbound tours. However, some small travel agents opt out the insurance to maximize their profit. Experts say no one can foresee what might come during a trip. It could be pleasure but also could be disaster. Therefore, all visitors are advised to buy travel insurance ahead of their trips.-VNA