The widespread lockdowns to check the spread of Covid-19 infections had put the travelling on hold worldwide. However, things are gradually becoming normal with a significant reduction in Corona positive cases. With many travel plans having been canceled during the lockdown period, people don’t want to miss travel opportunities any more.
The Covid-19 pandemic, however, has made people understand the need of having a good insurance cover – be it life insurance, health insurance, travel insurance and others.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has increased the importance of travel insurance with consumers showing a responsive approach to insurance buying. A behavioral change among the customers is witnessed as they now consider travel insurance a crucial safeguard shield than as an optional purchase,” said Rakesh Jain, CEO of Reliance General Insurance.
So, travel insurance – that was previously considered as ‘good to have’ while travelling – has now become a ‘must have’.
“Consumers have realised that having a travel insurance is an essential part of travelling. It not only helps in accessing quality hospital / health care facility in a foreign country but also protects an individual’s savings from significant health expenses from any medical emergencies. Hence, consumers are now opting for more comprehensive policies with higher sum insured after evaluating health care costs prevalent in their destination country,” said Jain.
Not only it’s need, people now seek the insurance with adequate features that would suit their purpose.
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So, what are the must-have features in travel insurance policies that buyers should look for?
“Selection of Travel insurance features generally depends on destination country’s policy requirements and on the purpose of travel. For instance, if the purpose of traveling is studying abroad, then one should look for features like Tuition Fees Cover,” said Jain.
“However, if it is leisure travel and you are thinking of exploring adventurous sports then travel policy must have adventurous sports benefit. Likewise, a few must-have features for international and domestic travel include medical covers for in/outpatient hospitalisation along with daily allowance, personal accident cover in case of permanent disability/death, personal possession or baggage loss cover, passports and other important documents loss cover and trip delays and trip/flight cancellations covers,” he further said.