Does a travel advisory affect my travel insurance?

The travel advisories that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade posts on its Smartraveller website, suggest, for example, that travellers "exercise a high degree of caution" in Paris, France, and to "reconsider your need to travel" to Istanbul and Ankara.

The latter is the second highest warning on Smartraveller's four-level advice ladder, one rung below "do not travel".

It also says: "Check that your travel insurer will cover you." So does a visit to Istanbul void your travel insurance when DFAT has applied a travel warning?

Most product disclosure statements with travel insurance policies state an insurer will not pay claims arising directly or indirectly from an act of terrorism or the threat or perceived threat of an act of terrorism.

Similarly, if your aircraft is turned around by a bomb scare and you are delayed overnight and miss your cruise, your insurer can mark that as a perceived terror threat and any additional cost is yours.

It is also possible that what Smartraveller says on its website will have a bearing on any claim you may make. NRMA travel insurance spells this out more clearly than most when it warns it will not pay claims that result from "you not following advice in the mass media or any government or other official body's warning".

What happens if you're already in a country when DFAT upgrades its travel advisory? This is grey territory but it's likely you will still have a good case for full cover, provided you bear the advice in mind and take reasonable steps to keep away from trouble spots.

The Smartraveller website has a comprehensive list of countries with travel advisories for each. If you want to preserve your full travel insurance cover, the Smartraveller website is required reading every time you head offshore.

See smartraveller.gov.au.