Various types of insurance schemes are out there. Travel insurance, among them is little known. People love to travel, but do they insure their tours? Not many of them. But knowing about travel insurance can save them couple hundred bucks. Don’t believe me? Okay, keep reading then.
Why travel insurance?
Think of a scenario – you are alone in a foreign country, not knowing the native language thus unable to communicate with the locals – if you need medical assistance or if your stuffs are stolen and you don’t have enough money to cover the expenses, travel insurance is the only thing that can save you.
There’s an apathy
Despite obvious benefits of travel insurance, not many people are keen on the idea of purchasing insurance for travel. A report from Pi Datametrics listed top 20 sites across the entire insurance sector. According to the report, the most popular insurance types are home insurance, health & life insurance and auto insurance.
Insurance Information Institute (III) did a quantitative study of the insurance sector. The study shows independent agents, independent broker-dealers, banks and full-service national broker-dealers have been the major distribution catalysts for individual annuity sales between the years 2012 and 2016. Take a look at the infograph below:
It’s not that banks and national broker-dealers don’t offer travel insurance. It’s only that people historically purchased life insurance policies from these distribution channels. The popular non-life insurance policies have been auto and health.
Silver lining
Clearly, people are not as enthusiastic to buy travel insurance plans as they are to buy car insurance, health insurance and life insurance. The good news is there’s a silver lining. Travel insurance market is expected to grow in the coming years. Allied Market Research expects this market to be worth $28 billion by 2022. The fact that it’s a global estimate indicates there’s a growing interest in travel worldwide and people are realizing the problems of traveling to unknown places without insurance.
Travel insurance market
Insurance schemes for travel are not as expensive as other insurance schemes. There are quite a few reasons behind this. Reason number one; traveling to an overseas location is always expensive, travel insurance companies know that. They know very if their insurance plans for travel press customers for high premium, many would shy away.
Hence, they offer cheap insurance plans for travel to attract customers. In travel insurance market, competitive advantage lies in lowering premium rate. Companies agree that it is, at least for now, is a requisite for the insurance market for travelers to grow.
Another reason is segmentation of the market. People paying for travel insurance plans are often senior citizens, a family of four or more and businesses travelers. The reason these people pay for insurance is they travel frequently, two or three times a year and they go to far off locations. Without insurance, the out of pocket would be huge for them.
Benefits of travel insurance
If you are still not convinced why you need insurance for traveling, take a look at the reasons below:
- Insurance plans for travelers cover medical costs. If you can find a good deal, medical evacuation, ambulance and doctor’s cost – everything would be covered.
- In case you have to return home immediately due to serious sickness, the flight cost would be provided by the company.
- A lot of travelers don’t consider the financial impact of delays. Insurance for travelers reimburses losses occurred due to unavoidable delay.
- Sometimes, travelers find it hard to pay additional costs. There are insurance plans for travelers that cover a range of unanticipated costs including housekeeping and domestic services.
It’d be foolish on your part to miss out on these benefits. Insurance schemes for travelers come in various forms and premium options. If you want to avail the benefits and memorize your next trip, talk to a travel insurance provider today.
Things to ask
Like everything else, don’t settle for a bunk deal when better options are around. Find several insurance deals for travel and compare them before selecting one. The selection process, however, can be a little troublesome. Pro tips you should follow are:
- Ask the insurance company if there’s any hidden cost.
- Bargain for lowering the premium.
- Ask them to explain the coverage in details.
- Ask them if they require you to stay in certain places when you are abroad.
The more you ask, the more you know. And the more you know, the better decisions you can take. So inquire everything about a travel insurance plan before selecting it.
Summing up
Insurance for travelers is a growing trend. It’s not a fad that will disappear after some time. If you are a traveler, who is worried about his future experiences or about problems he might face after visiting a foreign country – problems like sudden illness and resulting medical cost – opt for travel insurance.
