Indian travel insurance for visiting Asia

Travel insurance Asia

Out of this, almost 30% visited Asia Pacific countries with the top countries being visited including Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Thailand, Kuwait, Singapore, China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Abu Dhabi, Oman, Australia. There are many picturesque and beautiful locations to cover across all these countries in Asia. Out of the Top 20 International destinations that Indians prefer visiting, 14 of them are in the Asia Pacific region as listed above. And Indians love story with the Asian markets are not likely to end soon, this will only grow as more Asian destinations get added as well as more air capacity on short haul routes increase. The key reasons for Indians to prefer Asian markets include 1) Short duration of Travel to reach there 2) Relative Cost of the Trip given the current exchange rates of ₹ INR and 3) Flight Connectivity and number of Carriers. As the Indian skies open up to more Domestic Airlines becoming operational and flying International and more Foreign carriers getting permission to land In India and ferry passengers abroad, these number of tourists to Asian destinations will increase.

While most Indians travel to Asian destinations one very critical fact to be recorded is that the penetration of insurance to the number of travellers is lowest in these destinations. The underlying factor could be that the Indian traveller believes that since the trips are for around a week at maximum, the likelihood of any emergency requiring insurance cover during this period is very low. The other factor could be that Indians are aware that the cost of medical treatment in many Asian countries are relatively comparable to India and hence in case of any emergency, the traveller could bear the treatment cost out of pocket or fly back home to India to get themselves treated. Hence most Indian travellers to Asia destinations are currently not purchasing any insurance coverage.

There are many Indian insurance companies which have an Asia specific travel health insurance plan for the Indian traveller. There are essentially two broad part of the insurance policy that can protect the traveller which are coverages for Medical Emergencies like Accident or Sickness, Personal Accident cover, Dental Cover and Medical Evacuation and Non Medical covers like Loss of Passport / Baggage, Trip Delay, Trip Cancellation/Curtailment etc, which are relevant coverages for any International traveller. The cost of Overseas travel insurance for Asia also when compared to the overall cost of the trip is significantly low and hence very traveller should compulsorily buy an International travel medical insurance cover for their trips to Asian countries.