The demand for travel insurance is surging significantly due to an increase in revenge travel activities during the post-pandemic era. Many countries lifted restrictions related to travel and tourism, and the travel industry is on the path to recovery after suffering considerably from the ban and restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition to revenge travel, there are several other reasons for surging travel insurance demand. The loss of baggage, sickness, accident and other unforeseen circumstances lead people to avail travel insurance and free themselves from the financial burden that may follow.
Market players adopted various strategies such as partnerships and new product launches to cater to the travel insurance needs of travelers and raise their market stakes. Insurance providers are joining hands with other insurance providers to solve the existing issues and get benefited from each other’s expertise and offerings. Online insurance offerings are increasing day by day and the partnership strategy is aimed at providing a wide range of products under a single platform. Moreover, new products are launched to cater to the demands of international travelers. Moreover, technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) are incorporated into online platforms to provide a seamless claim settlement experience and raise customer retention rates. The dynamics of the industry are changing, and the following are the trends taking place across the world.
Partnership is one of the major strategies adopted by travel insurance policy providers and insurance platforms. The major reason behind adopting this strategy is to reach a wide audience and increase the market stake. Insurtech firms, which imply insurance technology firms, are also joining hands with various insurance providers to provide different products through their online platforms. InsuranceDekho, one of the insurtech firms, partnered with HDFC Ergo, Care, Reliance General, Bajaj Allianz, ICICI Lombard, and others for providing travel insurance. The firm’s online platform offers travel insurance plans for nearly 198 countries. It offers coverage for family, student, individual, and corporate travelers.
The insurtech firm covers a wide range of requirements under insurance cover. The covers for flight delay, baggage loss, emergency medical expenses, passport loss, and others are provided for travelers. Ankit Agrawal, the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at InsuranceDekho, highlighted that international travel activities are surging at 76%YoY during the post-pandemic era. This adoption is widening the market for travel insurance providers. This is the opportunity that the firm aims to tap into and expand its market share through partnerships with other companies. The firm also aims to provide one-stop solution for the travel insurance requirement of travelers on its online platform. Through diversified insurance options and a wide range of plans, market players are trying to capture the attention on their platform and fulfill the insurance needs of travelers.
The trend of partnership continues to gain momentum across the world as market players adopt various strategies to increase customer satisfaction and retention. Bimaplan, one of the insurtech startups, joined hands with zingbus, an intercity travel provider. Bimaplan will offer insurance policy as an additional benefit to users of zingbus through the integration of insurance plans into the existing products. This partnership provides benefits to both parties involved and solves existing issues. Through the integration of insurance plans into zingbus products, Bimaplan solved the issues related to technological and operational procedures of offering insurance policies to its travelers. On the other hand, Bimaplan will avail increased exposure for its policies on the platform of zingbus.
Bimaplan integrated its UNO platform into the platform of zingbus. It provides different types of coverage including travel accidental death, emergency medical cover, permanent total disablement, emergency medical evacuation cover, loss of baggage, and others. This integration will help zingbus in improving the customer experience and boosting the rate of retention. During the post-pandemic era, travel activities are increasing considerably and travel insurance is considered as an essential tool for protection against uncertainties. The partnership strategy will help in improving insurance adoption among travelers and raise the market stake. These strategies are positively impacting the travel insurance market. According to the report published by Next Move Strategy Consulting, the global travel insurance market generated USD 17.58 billion in 2021, and is expected to reach USD 58.93 billion by 2030.
The trend of launching new products also gains traction in the travel insurance industry as market players adopt different strategies to cater to evolving requirements of travelers. As many countries made it mandatory to avail travel insurance while applying for visa, market players launched international travel insurance products in the market. TIDLOR Insurance Broker, one of the leading insurance providers in Thailand, launched a new product for providing protection during travel activities across different destinations around the globe. Launched as “Travel Insurance for protective holiday,” the firm aims to offer coverage for sickness, accidents, deaths, and other conditions. The firm set the maximum coverage of nearly 5,000,000 baht. Moreover, the company offered protections against luggage loss and other asset losses along with delays in flights. The company aims to unburden the travelers by insuring them for their journeys as the healthcare costs in many countries are higher as compared to Thailand and other countries.
As the travel sector is booming post-pandemic, the adoption of travel insurance is increasing. Consequently, the claims of travel insurance due to loss of baggage, sickness, and other conditions are rising. To enable faster claim processing and offer a seamless experience to travelers, market players are launching artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled platforms. Liberty General Insurance launched AI-based automated claim processing platform. This platform requires minimal human intervention and deploys an algorithm based on AI. This platform enables different processes related to claim settlement processing such as standardized claim assessment, determining the accurate settlement amount, and others. This platform also addresses the queries of customers around the clock, and offers the facility of uploading documents, viewing claiming reports, and determining the status of settlement. The company highlighted that the platform launch is aimed at offering quicker, smarter, and more seamless experience of claim settlement experience than before. Such platforms are launched for improving customer experience and retention rates.
