Every year, many young Australian travellers join one of Contiki's famous group tours in search of an epic adventure. Before you set off, make sure you have travel insurance to cover you in case anything goes wrong.
Do I need travel insurance for Contiki tours?
Not only is travel insurance compulsory on Contiki tours, Contiki strongly recommends that you have comprehensive cover for all tours. Comprehensive travel insurance offers benefits to protect you on your Contiki tour, including:
Emergency medical expenses
Cancellation cover if you're forced to cancel your Contiki tour
Cover for personal baggage and money
Compare Contiki compliant travel insurance quotes
Got a quote before?
Finder survey: What types of holidays have Australians taken?
Response
Gap year
7.19%
Source: Finder survey by Pure Profile of 1112 Australians, December 2023
Do I need travel insurance for G Adventures and similar types of tours?
Most tour operators require you to have travel insurance, including other popular companies like G Adventures.
To travel with G Adventures, you must have travel medical insurance with minimum coverage for medical emergency evacuation and repatriation of US$200,000 (or equivalent). It also highly recommends cancellation cover, although it is not compulsory.
What are the travel insurance requirements for different tours?
Travel insurance with medical cover is compulsory. Cover for cancellation expenses is highly recommended for all G Adventure tours.
Baz Bus
South Africa's hop-on hop-off service
Recommended
Baz Bus highly recommends travellers have travel insurance with medical cover.
Vodkatrain
Small group tours across Asia and beyond
Required
Travel insurance with medical cover and for the loss of personal items is compulsory for travellers on all Vodkatrain tours.
Busabout
Flexible hop-on hop-off service for backpackers
Required for some tours
Travel insurance with cover for emergency medical expenses and repatriation is compulsory for trips to Asia and Turkey.
Stray Asia
Guided network for adventurous travellers in South-East Asia
Required
Travel insurance is compulsory for Stray Asia tours. Travel insurance with cover for medical expenses, personal baggage, cancellation, public liability and personal accident is highly recommended.
Bamba Experience
Travel solution for independent traveller in Latin America
Required
Travel insurance that can cover whitewater rafting and sand buggies is compulsory for Bamba tours.
Dragoman
Truck holidays in a variety of exotic locations
Required
Travel insurance with cover for emergency medical expenses and repatriation is compulsory for Dragoman tours.
Moose Travel Network
Coast to coast bus tours in Canada
Recommended
The Moose Travel Network strongly recommends travel insurance with cancellation cover is purchased.
Bundu Bus
Grand Canyon tours connecting with major American cities
Recommended
Bundu Bus recommends travel insurance for unforeseen circumstances.
Why is travel insurance compulsory for Contiki tours and most group tours?
The reason Contiki tours and most other tour operators insist on travel insurance is because of the risks inherent in travel. Some of the costs that can arise from these risks include:
Large cancellation fees. Cancellation fees, for instance, can be more than 50% of your tour cost. If you cancel more than 45 days before your trip, Contiki will keep your deposit of US$200. If you cancel a day out from your trip, you will lose 100% of your tour cost.
Airline disruptions. If an airline delays a flight they will move you onto the next flight, but don't expect them to pay for the accommodation and activities you have paid for and missed out on.
Expensive overseas medical costs. Many of these tours also travel to far-flung corners of the world, where health cover can be practically non-existent or very expensive. If you don’t have travel insurance, you’re directly liable for the costs if you need treatment or hospitalisation.
Adventurous activities. Additionally, most tour operators cater for young adventurers who partake in high risk sports and activities. In these instances, requiring you to have insurance to cover yourself is not only in your own best interests, it is also good business sense on the part of the tour operator.
Barry recently booked a small group adventure holiday to South America. 2 weeks before he was due to leave, he was involved in a car accident and was hospitalised with a broken leg. As Barry didn't have cancellation cover, he lost his deposit on the trip and had to pay 33% of the tour cost in cancellation fees. For the sake of saving a couple hundred dollars in travel insurance, Barry lost his trip and several thousand dollars from the cancellation.
* This is a fictional, but realistic, example.
Cancellation policy by tour provider
Each tour provider has its own cancellation policy. Typically, the closer you are to the commencement of your trip, the more you have to pay in cancellation fees. If you need to cancel your trip unexpectedly (e.g. a relative passes away), this is where travel insurance comes in handy.
Depends on how much time between when you cancel and when your tour begins. Cancellation fee rates will vary between tours from the west coast and east coast (of Canada).
Depends on how much time between when you cancel and when the start date of your pass begins.
Greater than 30 days. 10% of pass cost.
Less than 30 days. 100% of pass cost.
If there is no start date selected. 5% of the pass cost.
What are the must-have policy features for Contiki?
Cancellation
Medical
Personal item cover
Adventure activity cover
What to expect on a Contiki tour
If you’re planning to travel with Contiki, here are some tips on what to expect:
Contiki caters exclusively for 18 to 35 year olds, so if you’re in this age group and like to have fun, this might be the holiday for you.
You’ll be surprised how much free time is included in a tour, with plenty of down time for sightseeing, shopping or just relaxing.
Travel times between destinations will vary depending on weather and traffic conditions, so be flexible in your expectations regarding arrivals and departures
Many things are included such as transport, accommodation, some meals and some sightseeing.
Things that aren’t included are personal expenses, visas, insurance, medical fees, some entrance fees, lunches and optional excursions.
The average ratio of females to males on a tour is 60:40, although some of these can be couples.
Selecting travel insurance for your Contiki tour
The type of travel insurance you select for your Contiki trip will depend on the destination and kind of tour you have chosen. If you are travelling to South America or Asia, you will have to take out comprehensive cover as a condition of travel.
Even if you aren’t visiting South America or Asia, travel insurance is always a good idea to cover unforeseen risks such as illness and injury, trip cancellations and lost, stolen or damaged luggage and personal items. Consider how much cover you will need of each of these benefits when comparing policies. Remember, a couple of hundred dollars (or less) is a small price to pay for complete peace of mind and protection from financial hardship.
Jessica Prasida is a travel insurance expert for Finder. She lives and breathes travel, having worked as a travel agent and branch manager at STA Travel for over 4 years, then writing about travel insurance with Finder for another 5 years. Jess has a Bachelor of Business from the University of Technology, Sydney and a Tier 1 General Insurance qualification.
Just wonder whether you have the figure for Malaysia, Indonesia,India, the Phillipines and Thailand….Being a Malaysian I think Malaysia is one of the most dangerous place to drive ! They have no road manners…very few of them care about speed limits…and few traffic police officers to enforce the law.
Thanks for getting in touch. Unfortunately, we don’t have that data at the moment. We did recently look at dangerous roads in OECD countries frequented by Australians.
How likely would you be to recommend finder to a friend or colleague?
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Very UnlikelyExtremely Likely
Required
Thank you for your feedback.
Our goal is to create the best possible product, and your thoughts, ideas and suggestions play a major role in helping us identify opportunities to improve.
Important information about this website
finder.com.au is one of Australia's leading comparison websites. We are committed to our readers and stands by our editorial principles
We try to take an open and transparent approach and provide a broad-based comparison service. However, you should be aware that while we are an independently owned service, our comparison service does not include all providers or all products available in the market.
Some product issuers may provide products or offer services through multiple brands, associated companies or different labeling arrangements. This can make it difficult for consumers to compare alternatives or identify the companies behind the products. However, we aim to provide information to enable consumers to understand these issues.
We make money by featuring products on our site. Compensation received from the providers featured on our site can influence which products we write about as well as where and how products appear on our page, but the order or placement of these products does not influence our assessment or opinions of them, nor is it an endorsement or recommendation for them.
Products marked as 'Top Pick', 'Promoted' or 'Advertisement' are prominently displayed either as a result of a commercial advertising arrangement or to highlight a particular product, provider or feature. Finder may receive remuneration from the Provider if you click on the related link, purchase or enquire about the product. Finder's decision to show a 'promoted' product is neither a recommendation that the product is appropriate for you nor an indication that the product is the best in its category. We encourage you to use the tools and information we provide to compare your options.
Where our site links to particular products or displays 'Go to site' buttons, we may receive a commission, referral fee or payment when you click on those buttons or apply for a product. You can learn more about how we make money.
When products are grouped in a table or list, the order in which they are initially sorted may be influenced by a range of factors including price, fees and discounts; commercial partnerships; product features; and brand popularity. We provide tools so you can sort and filter these lists to highlight features that matter to you.
Please read our website terms of use and privacy policy for more information about our services and our approach to privacy.
Just wonder whether you have the figure for Malaysia, Indonesia,India, the Phillipines and Thailand….Being a Malaysian I think Malaysia is one of the most dangerous place to drive ! They have no road manners…very few of them care about speed limits…and few traffic police officers to enforce the law.
Hi Aiikay,
Thanks for getting in touch. Unfortunately, we don’t have that data at the moment. We did recently look at dangerous roads in OECD countries frequented by Australians.
All the best,
Richard