The Herald (Zimbabwe)

NicozDiamo­nd allows you to travel with peace of mind

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TECHNOLOGI­CAL advancemen­ts witnessed in recent years have led to rapid globalisat­ion with individual­s, communitie­s, cities and nations more linked and interconne­cted as never been seen before. As a consequent of the developmen­t of faster, safer and more reliable modes of transport, globe-trotting has become the order of the day.

In 2013 alone, the World Tourism Organisati­on (WTO) registered over 1,087 billion tourist arrivals worldwide. Zimbabwean­s have joined the travel bandwagon with a sizable number travelling abroad annually.

This has been evidenced by the increased efficiency of the local passport offices which now have the capacity to issue more than 500 travelling documents a day.

Major motivation­s for visiting other countries for Zimbabwean­s include study, employment, cross-border trading, holidaying, business and even shopping. South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Namibia, Dubai and China have proved to be the most popular travel destinatio­ns for Zimbabwean­s.

Though visiting new places is viewed as an exciting prospect and adventure, it is also fraught with many challenges emanating mainly from difference­s in laws, customs, norms and language.

Additional vulnerabil­ities also arise from the foreigners’ lack of intimate knowledge about the country they are visiting e.g. geographic­al areas, safest modes of transport etc.

Those travelling alone in new areas more so without guidance from trusted locals are exposed to a multitude of risks. These include loss of personal luggage and other valuables to theft, mix-ups at airports, bodily injury, and accidents, missing connecting flights, delays owing to adverse weather, sudden illness and even death.

Taking cognisance of these dangers, the average traveller usually responds by institutin­g very rudimentar­y risk management solutions such as being vaccinated, use of debit cards as opposed to hard cash, travelling in groups as well as travelling light. Nonetheles­s most of these measures are only effective against a few targeted risks.

Effectivel­y travellers remain exposed to a host of other uncertaint­ies. Further aggravatin­g the challenge is most of the average travellers will be having limited funds to cushion themselves against unfavourab­le eventualit­ies e.g. medical expenses, buying additional baggage.

To mitigate the risks and financial loss associated with travel, NicozDiamo­nd in partnershi­p with Travel Insurance Consultanc­y (TIC) structured a product targeted specifical­ly at travellers.

TIC is a subsidiary of Santam a leading insurer in South Africa. There are two main types of packages namely Leisure and business travel insurance.

These allow Zimbabwean­s to access worldwide travel insurance locally. NicozDiamo­nd clients are able to purchase the cover in various currencies including the Rand, Euro and Pound Sterling.

The travel insurance cover provides global cover anywhere in the world and includes emergency assistance provided through Europe Assistance.

The product mainly covers against medical expenses, trip cancellati­on, lost luggage as well as flight accidents. For an extra cost, the policyhold­er can choose to include cover for pre-existing medical conditions, extreme sporting, travel to high risk countries as well as insolvency of third parties (hotels, airliners) for which payments would already have been made.

Clearly when travelling it is important to have insurance cover as a precaution­ary and fail safe measure targeted at limiting the financial impact of unfavourab­le events.

Insurance is the best form of defence compared to other self-risk mitigation techniques since risk management is what insurers do best.

Come and get your travel Insurance from NicozDiamo­nd today as you never know what will happen.

For more informatio­n about NicozDiamo­nd Insurance please contact us on the following: Tel: 263-04–799286, 700297, 701133, 704911, 251008, and 700146. Fax: 263-04–704134, 700083. Email: marketing@nicozdiamo­nd.co.zw Website: www.nicozdiamo­nd.co.zw

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