We all love to travel especially during a vacation. It is the best way to relieve all stress and ease our mind completely. However, in the present unstable times; you never know when your travel can turn into a nightmare. You get exposed to plenty of risks and unforeseen dangers while abroad on vacation. You can protect yourself against these by getting yourself covered with travel insurance.
What is travel insurance?
A travel insurance plan is a specialized insurance plan which covers you against a wide array of travel-related perils. The dangers can range from lost baggage, loss of vital documents including your passport, natural calamity, delay in flights, cancellation of flights, medical emergency, injury due to adventurous sports, etc.
The need of travel insurance
Many consider travel insurance as an unnecessary and frivolous expense. However, purchasing travel insurance while traveling abroad and even within India is highly recommended. It is a vital safety net that can prevent your wallet from draining out. Let me cite an example. Mr. Suresh went for a holiday in Switzerland. While on the snow, he slipped and fractured his arm. He was taken to a hospital and had to pay money equivalent to one lakh Indian rupees for getting his fracture treated. The drain spoilt his entire holiday plans as the accident placed him on shoestring finance. The situation would have been easily averted had he invested in travel insurance. Many countries like USA and Canada do not issue a visa unless you have medical insurance with you. The good thing about travel insurance is that it is quite affordable and often less than the amount that you pay for a room abroad for a single night.
Recently, CAPA India-Expedia travel published a report called ‘The inflection point for India outbound travel.’ According to it, the Indian millennial is more prone to leisure and travel than saving. They also tend to be more adventurous and more open to risky activities. Thus, they are more open to vacation contingencies and thus getting travel insurance becomes critical.
The travel insurance scenario in India
The cost for any unforeseen incident outside India can be exorbitantly high for any Indian. With an increase in Indian travelers going abroad, more than 40 general insurance companies are offering Travel Insurance Plans of a wide variety to Indian citizens. The sum insured in the travel insurance varies anything from $25,000-50,000. Amongst them, one of the popular and highly attractive travel insurance is offered by HDFC Ergo, especially for overseas travel.Few significant advantages of the plan are:-
- One can easily read everything about it online and apply and even get an instant approval.
- There is a helpline open 24/7 to assist you or answer any queries.
- Unless there is an adverse medical history; no medical check-up is required.
- Its cashless claim facility frees you from the hassle of several trips for reimbursement.
- It offers a wide range of sum assured in four variants to meet all kinds of requirements. Thus, you have plenty of flexibility.
- Even foreign nationals working and residing in India with income in Indian rupees can purchase the policy after meeting all its conditions and supplying all necessary documents.
- You can also easily cancel your policy within 14 days of the inception of the policy in case your trip gets cancelled for any reason.
- Similarly, you can even extend the policy period, subject to certain conditions.
In a nutshell, The HDFC Ergo travel insurance policy is one of the most comprehensive travel insurance plans available to Indian travelers. It provides protection against both medical and non-medical contingencies at an affordable rate and thus comes highly recommended.
Bottom Line
A travel insurance plan is, in reality, one of the most important documents that you need to procure when planning any trip abroad. It removes all concerns and worries about any contingencies and emergencies. Thus, you can genuinely relax and enjoy your vacation to the hilt.
