Each year thousands of holidaymakers are caught out when their holiday becomes delayed or is cancelled. Many travellers find that, to their surprise, the travel insurance that they purchased for the trip does not cover holiday cancellations and curtailments. This is why many savvy travellers are now ensuring that they take out separate specialist cancellation and curtailment insurance.

Taking out insurance against these eventualities may be wise as you could gain compensation for a trip that had to be missed or cut short. But anyone choosing this type of cover, sometimes called ?trip protection? insurance, should make sure that they know exactly which reasons for cancellation and delay they are covered for.

Cancelling your trip

There are so many reasons that a trip abroad may need to be cancelled. Some will be covered by an insurance policy as standard, while others will only be covered by more expensive policies.

A good tip is that most all-inclusive holidays include a low cost "cancellation waiver" which allows you to cancel your trip for any reasonable reason. In this case customers will be entitled to either a full or partial refund depending on the insurer's policy.

Below are a list of the most common causes for holiday cancellations, and as such these are usually covered as standard by the majority of cancellation cover insurers:

Accident en route - hijacking - being selected for jury duty - injury to one of the travel party - flood or fire at home - illness - natural disasters.

Watch out for the following causes as they are not typically covered by insurers:

Self-inflicted injuries or illness ? injury or sickness contracted through the use of illegal substances - change in plans - contractual obligations - change in your financial situation leaving you unable to afford your holiday.

Acceptable reasons for delay

Cancellation and curtailment insurers offer differing amounts of compensation depending on the reason given for curtailment. Below are the most likely causes for a trip to be curtailed ? you should check your policy detail beforehand to see which if these you are covered against ? hopefully all of them!

Natural disasters - hijacking - unannounced strikes at airports, en route, or in your destination country - lost, stolen or damaged travel documents - delay caused by a bad traffic accident en route - lost, stolen or damaged money - unexpected need for quarantine - bad weather.

Things to look out for with trip delay cover include the extra costs associated with trip delays such as added food and accommodation costs.

Look out for any limits set on the amount of reimbursement you will receive each day in the event of delayed travel, as most insurers will set a standard flat rate. The majority of policies also have a set period of time that the trip must be delayed by before you can claim ? usually this is between 6 and 12 hours.

For great deals on visit Go Travel Insurance.