Travel Insurance for Groups
Business travel has always been part of the corporate life, but it has now become an indispensable business activity as the world is getting smaller and the pursuit of opportunity is giving a boost to business travel around the world.
It is estimated that India will witness 50 million outbound tourists annually by 2020. Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) projects the total business travel spending for India to grow by 2.1 per cent in 2014 to US$24.9 bn. According to GBTA, India’s business travel market is the fastest growing in Asia and set to double by 2015. Indian business travellers are expected to become the second largest group after the Chinese within the next few years.
Global integration has resulted in an increasing number of MNCs coming to India and Indian companies going global. As economies connect across international borders, employees are required to travel to far off destinations to check on factory operations or seal deals in remote areas or emerging markets. With an increase in travel, the possibility of something untoward happening to a business traveller also increases.
Corporate travel insurance protects one’s business against financial disruptions, caused by serious accidents, illness or delay in travel, while giving the company and its employees’ peace of mind during business travel. It also provides a comprehensive protective range for other travel benefits including evacuation, resumption of journey protection for money, travel documents and personal belongings whilst travelling on business. Though these scenarios are unlikely, however if anything of this nature transpires, it can cause financial loss to the company.
Due to hectic schedules, the trend of mixing work and leisure times is increasing. To create a work-life balance, professionals often extend the duration of their travel to spend time with their families. In such cases, a personal travel insurance policy is highly recommended to cover the unforeseen expenses such as unexpected medical treatment, emergency evacuation, flight cancellations or lost luggage. Global events resulting from political and social unrest have also increased the risks of international travelling.
In addition to that the rupee-dollar fluctuations also affect international travel. So it becomes even more essential to have travel insurance in place as healthcare treatment in other countries may turn out to be much higher than expected.
Travel insurance plays an important role within the travel industry, especially with the large number of people travelling in and out of India. There is an array of travel policies available in the market that can be chosen on the basis of the types of coverage needed, places of visit, the number of employees travelling, length of the trips, etc. Useful, affordable and hasslefree, travel insurance ensures that one doesn’t have to worry about any unpleasant incidence while travelling for work or leisure.