Travel insurance is your lifeline when holidaying

Hot summer days are here and it's time to plan your vacation to cooler climes. While visiting new and exotic places can be an exciting proposition, any unforeseen situations like financial and medical emergencies and travel inconvenience can easily spoil the holiday mood. 
According to industry experts, a comprehensive travel insurance plan acts as a shield when one is faced with serious situations. But not everyone knows the benefits of buying an insurance plan while travelling.
Nirvana Travel and Tourism's executive director of corporate communications and projects Omar Al Ali said travel insurance serves to protect people from all aspects of travel risks.
"Travel insurance offers a wide range of benefits to travellers, covering situations such as loss or damage of luggage, overseas medical emergencies and additional expenses due to unexpected travel delay or cancellation. By having travel insurance, these unanticipated occurrences can be easily dealt with, therefore reducing the burden of unforeseen events and giving clients a peace of mind during their travel."

Why insurance is a must

Travel insurance is a pillar of support during emergencies and hence is a quintessential while travelling abroad, said Insurance firm AIG-UAE's head of travel business, Sheeraz Ahmed. 

AIG claims to have more than 90 million global customers. AIG is partnering with major UAE-based airlines to make its offering available to a wide range of travellers and holidaymakers.

"Travel insurance protects customers against expenses and inconvenience due to emergency medical conditions, delayed flights, hotel cancellation, baggage delays and so on. Our Travel Guard plan offers additional benefits such as medical evacuation, trip cancellation or curtailment, travel delay, hazardous sports and terrorism extension," said Ahmed.
Most of the travel insurances have features including worldwide travel protection policy, instant online purchase, simple and easy claims process, 24/7 global assistance with locations in Europe, Americas and Asia, emergency assistance in local language, dedicated travel team to serve commercial, underwriting and claims needs.
"Our Travel Guard also covers you for the medical expenses and evacuation.
We take care of medical expenses and pay directly to hospitals or clinics anywhere in the world. We will arrange transportation by air, land or sea to transfer the patient from one location to another depending on the medical condition," Ahmed said, counting the benefits of having a travel insurance.
It can even cover trip cancellation and curtailment benefit.
"If you are unable to travel due to illness, you can claim for the ticket or hotel expenses paid. Trip curtailment allows you to claim for the ticket or for the hotel cancellation fee."
Talking about aspects of protection against travel and baggage delay, he said: "If your flight is delayed for more than four hours, there are travel insurance that will cover your expenses for food and hotel accommodation. If your baggage has not arrived at your final port of destination, expenses for additional clothing till your baggage arrives will also be covered."
A comprehensive travel insurance includes coverage for personal accident, emergency medical expenses, baggage and personal effects, trip cancellation and secure wallet, i.e. credit card fraud etc.

Public awareness is growing

Sheeraz Ahmed noted that despite the many benefits of travel insurance, holidaymakers had so far been unaware about the importance of having one. But the situation is slowly changing, he added. 
"We conduct regular training sessions for travel agencies, online portals and other partners. This training will help them to educate their clients about the travel insurance products and its benefits. Earlier, people were not aware about the benefits and how to get the claims. This year, I have seen that people are becoming aware about need for travel insurance."
The benefits of having a travel insurance are not lost on many frequent travellers as well. Residents who spoke to Khaleej Times said they always buy a coverage plan to ensure their holidays go hassle free.
"The idea is to prepare for the worst when you are travelling, especially with your family. So, there is no point in trying to save a few hundreds of dirhams and regret later when you run into some unexpected situations," said Govindarajan, an Indian expat working in Abu Dhabi.
Business consultant Walid Siddique from Pakistan said he started buying travel insurance after he had a bad experience in Rome when his suitcase got stolen a few years ago.
"I really had a tough time. That is when I realised the importance of having a comprehensive travel insurance. Now, no matter where I travel - and even for short trips - I buy a good coverage plan. I stopped being pennywise, pound foolish."
ashwani@khaleejtimes.com

Ashwani Kumar

Ashwani Kumar is a versatile journalist who explores every beat in Abu Dhabi with an insatiable curiosity. He loves uncovering stories that are informative and help readers form their own opinions.

ashwani@khaleejtimes.com