Tropical Cyclone Alfred

Date: 05/03/2025 by Southern Cross Travel Insurance

With Tropical Cyclone Alfred due to make landfall on the southeast Queensland coast and some parts of northeast New South Wales, Australia, towards the end of the week Southern Cross Travel Insurance (SCTI) has issued some advice for those travelling in the area.

• If you’re on holiday and a disaster strikes, the most important thing to keep in mind is your safety. Follow the instructions of any officials or emergency personnel and seek medical attention if you need it.
• If you need to change your travel plans to get home, contact your airline or tour operator in the first instance. If you’re concerned about what costs you’re covered for, it’s important where possible to speak to your travel insurance provider before making any changes. That way, you can be confident. If there are costs that your airline can’t reimburse you for, get in touch with your travel insurer to find out what they can cover. 
• To make things easier, keep any cancellation notifications from your airline, including emails, along with receipts for any expenses incurred by the event, such as accommodation and meals. You’ll need to submit these with any claim.
• SCTI can confirm that they are likely to cover any claims for travellers already in the area, who have departed on their journey or who have already purchased a policy for travel to this region before the event as known. However, it’s important to note that you must be directly impacted e.g. evacuated from your accommodation or scheduled transport interrupted. SCTI advises customers to follow advice from DFAT’s Smartraveller on where it is safe to travel.
• If you have not yet travelled but your travel plans have been directly affected e.g. you have had a flight cancelled, or the area to which you were planning to travel has been evacuated,  then you would likely be covered under the policy.

Jo McCauley, Chief Executive Officer at SCTI, explains that extreme weather events caused by climate change are increasing and as a result travellers are facing higher rates of disruption both internationally and domestically.

“In 2024, we saw a 16% increase in disruption caused by natural disasters or severe weather events since we started looking at this issue in 2018. Each year since, weather conditions appear to be getting more extreme than the last. 2025 is already accounting for 9% of 2024’s catastrophic claims with Cyclone Alfred now adding further to this total.”

According to recent SCTI latest Future of Travel research, travellers appreciate the need for travel insurance when going overseas but don’t see the importance of domestic travel insurance with only two in five (41%) saying that domestic travel insurance is a high priority for them.

“What surprises many people is that our data tells us that for 2024 the average domestic claim was 5% more expensive than the average international claim ($1,898 - average domestic claim compared to $1,802 - average international claim). The data really highlights the need for domestic travel insurance which is so often overlooked,” says McCauley.

“When people think of travel insurance they often think of medical costs first, but while these can be costly, other issues such as changes to your journey e.g. rebooking airfares or cancelling accommodation can incur costs which can quickly add up. That’s why it’s so important to purchase travel insurance to protect against the unexpected.”