Away from the mundane daily life, a foreign vacation comes as a welcome break. It is also the time to strengthen the bond between family members and discover new things. For instance, a husband discovers the inclination of his wife towards adventurous activities, like bungee jumping, scuba diving, etc. Little wonders, every family member looks forward to going out on a holiday for creating memorable moments.
Increase in number of Indians travelling abroad
Indians love to travel overseas. Over the last five years, the number of people travelling abroad has witnessed a rise of about 10.7%. As per the estimates of World Bank, Indians spent around Rs 91,593 crore overseas in 2013 as compared to Rs 70,746 crore in 2007. Besides Singapore and Thailand, some of the new destinations which have caught the fancy of Indians are Seychelles, Maldives, Oman and Vietnam. Besides this, there has been a rise in the number of solo women travelling overseas.
Dismal state of Travel insurance
While the number of people taking foreign vacations has increased, the statistics is not that good when it comes to buying travel insurance. According to one of the surveys conducted, only 2%-5% of people travelling abroad purchase travel insurance.
But what if an unforeseen event or accident disturbs the tranquility of travel? Imagine after reaching Singapore, you take a cab to a hotel and forget your travel bags inside it! Similarly, there are hundreds of things, like illness, accident, which can go wrong and ruin your entire holiday mood. There are several reasons due to which your flight can get cancelled. Wouldn’t it be great if there is someone who can lend a helping hand, take all the responsibility and bring you out of the difficult situation? Well, there is indeed a solution in the form of travel insurance policy. It ensures that fun in a vacation remains uninterrupted whatever is the situation.
Top reasons to buy travel insurance policy
- Loss of baggage or passport: What happens in case you lose your baggage or passport? Instead of pressing the panic button and contacting the embassy, you can simply call the travel insurer to sort out things. The insurer would not only help in getting a duplicate passport, but all the related expenses incurred in the process will also be taken care by the insurer. There can be nothing daunting than losing one’s passport in a foreign land. Moreover, if you can’t speak the local language, it becomes difficult to communicate. In such a situation, the insurer would pay you a pre-determined sum in case you lose your passport/baggage, along with related expenses.
- Health coverage: Medical emergencies can strike anytime and anywhere. Imagine the situation when your daughter or wife falls sick or meets with an accident in a country like the USA where medical costs are high. It is important to note, your health insurance policies will not offer coverage once you cross the country. Here, travel insurance comes into the picture. In the case of medical emergency, the insurer would cover diagnostic tests, evacuation charges, hospitalization costs along with transportation costs. Most importantly, travel insurance plans can give you cashless facility in a foreign country.
- Cancellation of the trip: Imagine a situation when you have booked a flight ticket to attend a friend’s wedding in London and at the last minute, you met with an accident and your trip gets cancelled. Considering the financial loss, your friend won’t be the only person who gets heartache. Any last minute personal emergency, death in a family or illness could result in cancellation of the planned trip. It results in monetary losses as booking amount in most of the cases is non-refundable. A travel insurance policy with cancellation coverage will reimburse your trip cancellation charges. Further, cancellation compensation is also applicable when a trip is cancelled due to terrorism, riots and weather related events.
- Emergency evacuation: Earthquakes, terrorist attacks, volcanic ash clouds and Tsunamis are such situations where emergency evacuation requires. Unfortunately, one can never predict when and where a natural calamity may strike. What happens if you are caught in a similar situation on your vacation? Fortunately, a travel insurer evacuates the insured out from a distress situation and gives the required medical care.
- Burglary/theft at home: An empty house becomes an easy target for thieves. While you are on a vacation having the time of your life, a theft might happen in your house. A travel insurance policy can take care of this as well.
- Humanitarian ground: If due to medical reasons, you get hospitalized, you might want your family members besides you. If your family member travels to visit you, travel insurance policies cover their stay and travel expenses.
Most of the travel insurance companies have 24×7 customer support in foreign locations also where you can call in case of medical and non-medical emergency while travelling. Further, in case you lose your policy document, you can give your policy document number and the insurer will settle your claim on the basis of it. In case you don’t remember your policy document number, your name or mobile number will help in claim settlement.
Remember, it’s very easy to create a travel itinerary, but to travel safe and comfortable, its worth to buy a travel insurance policy!