Travel Insurance For A Trip To Egypt

The allure of Egypt draws Americans to explore its history, culture and natural splendor.

“Travelers have been attracted to Egypt for thousands of years—first as a major trading route via the Nile, and now as a cultural fusion of the ancient and the modern, with bustling cities and ancient wonders nestled side by side,” says Jon Whitby, a spokesperson with World Nomads, a travel insurance company.

Planning a bucket-list trip to Egypt doesn’t come cheap. You’ll likely have a robust itinerary that requires prepaid, nonrefundable deposits. To protect your trip outlays, it’s important to purchase a comprehensive travel insurance policy that includes trip cancellation, trip delay, trip interruption, medical expense, emergency medical evacuation and baggage coverage.

Compare & Buy Travel Insurance

Trip Cancellation Insurance: Cairo Can Wait

With so much riding on a trip to Egypt, the financial implications would be hefty if you need to unexpectedly cancel due a sudden family emergency. But trip cancellation insurance can help.

Acceptable reasons to cancel a trip and make a travel insurance claim generally include:

• Military deployment orders
• Serious illness, injury or death of you or a travel companion
• Serious injury or illness of a family member not traveling with you that requires medical attention or your immediate care, and that’s certified by a physician
• Severe weather
• Sudden job loss
• Unplanned jury duty
• Your travel supplier going out of business

So if your spouse is critically injured in a car accident three days before your two-week anniversary trip to Egypt, trip cancellation insurance could reimburse you for 100% of any prepaid and nonrefundable trip deposits.

Not all reasons to cancel will be eligible for reimbursement by travel insurance. If you realize that you booked your tour during Egypt’s rainy season and torrential rains are in the forecast for most of your time there, you can’t make a trip cancellation claim.

“Cancel for Any Reason” Travel Insurance for Red Sea Regrets

If you want the highest level of flexibility to change your travel plans and make a cancellation claim, consider adding “cancel for any coverage”, or CFAR, to a travel insurance plan. This gold-standard travel insurance upgrade will increase the price of a travel insurance policy by about 50%. But it will give you the liberty to cancel your trip for any reason and get partial reimbursement.

If you decide to cancel your trip due to a fear of travel because of political or economic instability, or safety at your destination, you would need to have purchased CFAR for reimbursement of your nonrefundable trip expenses, says Angela Borden, a spokesperson with Seven Corners. “Only CFAR covers cancellation due to a fear of travel.”

CFAR typically reimburses 75% of your trip costs, as long as you cancel at least 48 hours before your scheduled departure.

To add this coverage to a base travel insurance plan, you usually need to do so within 14 days of making your first trip deposit.

Travel Delay Insurance: Late to Luxor

Travel delay insurance reimburses you for unexpected expenses you incur if you experience a delay on your way to Egypt for a problem covered by your policy. Acceptable reasons for a delay generally include severe weather, airline maintenance issues and national security events.

Let’s say you are flying from Chicago to Istanbul to Cairo and your flight is grounded in Turkey overnight due to a security issue at the airport. Your travel delay insurance may cover the cost of a hotel room, meals, a taxi ride and some personal necessities until you catch up to your itinerary.

Be sure to save your receipts because you will need to submit these if you file a travel delay claim.

It’s also important to read your policy, as there are usually delay-related waiting times before your benefits start. For example, you may need a delay of six, 12 or 24 hours in order to make a travel delay claim.

If your delay causes you to miss a trip experience you pre-paid, like a city tour of Cairo, you can also file a claim for that lost trip expense.

Trip Interruption Insurance: Bye-Bye Khan El Khalili Bazaar

Trip interruption insurance reimburses you if you need to end the trip early due to a reason listed in your travel insurance policy. You can file a claim to be reimbursed for any nonrefundable, prepaid and unused costs you lose because of your unplanned early departure.

Reasons to cut your trip short may include:

• Illness or injury to you, a travel companion or a close relative at home
• A family emergency or death of a close family member
• Severe weather
• Acts of war

So if you’re touring the Memorial Temple of Hatshepsut in Luxor and you receive a call that your mother is hospitalized, you may want to cut your trip short and return to the U.S.

Your travel insurance company would cover the cost of a one-way coach ticket home, and would reimburse nonrefundable costs you forfeit due to your early departure.

“Interruption for Any Reason” Travel Insurance for Pharaoh Farewells

Some travel insurance companies sell “interruption for any reason” (IFAR) travel insurance as an upgrade. IFAR coverage allows you to return home early from a trip regardless of the reason and be compensated up to 75% of your insured trip costs. It typically adds 3% to 10% to your trip cost, and you must usually be 48 hours or more into your trip.

Travel Medical Insurance: Feeling Grim in Giza

When traveling outside the U.S., your domestic health insurance probably won’t be accepted. It’s best to check with your health insurer before traveling to see if any global benefits are available. Senior travelers should be aware that Medicare won’t be accepted abroad either.

For these reasons, travel medical insurance is important when traveling internationally.

The Great Pyramid of Giza—one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World—is a marvel to see. But if you become dehydrated and need medical attention, you can rely on your travel medical benefits to cover your expenses. Without medical expense coverage, you will be personally responsible for these costs.

For travel to Egypt, Squaremouth, a travel insurance comparison provider, recommends buying a travel insurance plan with at least $50,000 in travel medical insurance and $100,000 in medical evacuation coverage.

Emergency Medical Evacuation for the Accidental Tourist

Meghan Walch, a spokesperson with InsureMyTrip, a travel insurance comparison site, says that rescue and ambulance services are not widely available in Egypt and the skills of first responders may not be up to American standards. “InsureMyTrip recommends visitors to Egypt purchase a travel medical plan that includes emergency evacuation,” says Walch.

If you are touring El Gouna, a resort town on Egypt’s Red Sea, and break a leg, you will need to be airlifted to a medical center for trauma care. The emergency medical evacuation insurance within a comprehensive travel insurance plan will cover the emergency transportation costs. Without these benefits, you will have to pay out of pocket for these very expensive services.

Travel Insurance Coverage for Adventure Sports

Egypt offers a wide variety of adventure and sports activities. “Everything from visiting the Pyramids to quad biking in the desert, snorkeling/diving in the Red Sea or Mediterranean Sea,” says Walch.
Be sure to read your travel insurance policy carefully to make sure any injuries resulting from these adventures will be covered.

“If you’re planning on booking one of these activities and are concerned about being injured, check your travel insurance policy,” says Walch. “Some policies have exclusions for extreme/potentially dangerous activities.”

Others, such as Allianz Travel, offer add-on coverage for adventure sports and activities. And travel insurers such as World Nomads cater to the adventure traveler.

Baggage Insurance for Your Belongings

Baggage insurance can compensate you for the depreciated value of your luggage and personal belongings if they are lost, stolen or damaged while traveling, up to your policy limits.

“Some things haven’t changed over the thousands of years, and one of them is that theft is a common problem for travelers to Egypt,” observes Whitby with World Nomads.

“Travel insurance is worth considering as it can cover some of your high-value items and help replace your lost or stolen baggage, whether it be from your hotel room or from your bag when you nodded off on that long bus trip.”

If you are the victim of a petty crime, be sure to file a report with your hotel manager, tour operator or the local authorities. You will be asked to present this documentation if you file a claim with your travel insurance company.

If your baggage arrives at your destination after you do, baggage delay insurance can pay for necessities such as a change of clothes and toiletries to keep you comfortable until your stuff shows up. Note that there is usually a required waiting period before baggage delay coverage goes into effect, such as six, 12 or 24 hours, which will be specified in your policy.

Compare & Buy Travel Insurance

How Much Is Travel Insurance for a Trip to Egypt?

The average cost of travel insurance for a trip to Egypt is $646, according to Squaremouth. This is for an average trip length to Egypt of 15 days with an average insured trip cost of $9,463.

Exactly how much you pay for travel insurance will depend on several factors, including your age, trip cost and the travel insurance plan (and upgrades) you choose.

The average cost of travel insurance is 5% to 6% of your trip cost, according to a Forbes Advisor analysis of travel insurance rates.