Many opt for premium travel insurance cover amid global flight disruptions
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Pune: Holiday and business travellers are now increasingly purchasing more expensive travel insurance policies, experts said, as anxieties mounted over possible disruptions such as Covid surges, war, hospitalizations abroad and issues with airline safety.
In Pune too, flyers said they did not mind paying the premium, as long as a range of unforeseen events were covered. "A basic travel insurance policy to Thailand typically costs Rs 500-600 for a week, but I paid Rs 1,100 for one that also covered medical emergencies and theft," said Rahul Sejpal, a resident of Wanowrie, who flew recently to the southeast Asian country.
Naresh Upadhyay, a resident of Hadapsar, also purchased an expensive insurance cover for an upcoming Europe trip.
"There have been serious flight disruptions due to the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict. So I opted for a wider insurance cover, one that accounts for these uncertainties," he said.
Meet Kapadia, head of travel insurance at PolicyBazaar, said 62% of travellers today pick policies with coverage of $250,000 (over Rs 2 crore) or more, up from the earlier benchmark of $100,000 (over Rs 86 lakh). Kapadia said: "We've observed a clear shift towards higher-value coverage, especially for destinations such as Europe.
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Individuals between 55 and 70 years of age, in particular, are even opting for coverage exceeding $500,000 (over Rs 4 crore), largely driven by concerns of high hospitalisation costs abroad and need for medical support.
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Kapadia also said PolicyBazaar has recorded a 40% increase in purchase of travel insurance policies for the summer this year, compared to the same period last year.
Of great concern, have been the geopolitical flare-ups along several key flight paths.
Data from real-time plane-tracker FlightRadar24 showed thinning air traffic over regions of Israel, Iraq, Iran and Ukraine as pilots squeezed into safe corridors that avoided these conflict zones.
Besides geopolitics, geological events too have hit headlines. The recent eruptions of Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki in Indonesia grounded at least 87 flights to and from Bali — 66 international and 21 domestic ones. Bali airport officials said the volcano impacted critical air connections to Australia, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia.
The flights resumed three days later, on Thursday, June 19.
"There may be a shift towards purchasing additional covers along with travel insurance as a standard part of people's travel preparations," said Bhaskar Nerurkar, head of the health administration team at Bajaj Allianz General Insurance.
"Many individuals are now proactively seeking information about various aspects of their policies, particularly regarding trip cancellations, medical emergencies, cancellations for any reason, and protections against geopolitical disruptions," he said.
Surender Tonk, vice President of Insurance Brokers Association of India (IBAI), said Covid was another factor. Earlier this month, at least 5 countries and regions, including Hong Kong and parts of US - all experiencing upticks of cases - sent out travel advisories urging people to avoid non-essential travel.
"People are opting and preferring to go for higher insured travel insurance policies due to these uncertainties," Tonk said. "The Covid-19 pandemic raised awareness related to travel risks and hence witnessed more demand for comprehensive travel insurance policies," he added.
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