Majority of Indians Procrastinate Buying Travel Insurance
06.09.2023 - 03:43
/ skift.com
/ Amrita Ghosh
/ Air India
Only 25% of Indians traveling abroad purchase travel insurance well in advance while making travel arrangements, while the majority of them wait until the last three days to buy it, according to data compiled by insurance aggregator Policybazaar.
“Early buying allows travelers ample time to carefully review and select a travel insurance policy that offers the specific coverage they need. Besides focusing on coverage limits, deductibles, and exclusions, travelers must ensure the policy covers the destinations they plan to visit and any specific activities they intend to do, such as adventure sports,” Manas Kapoor, business head of travel insurance, Policybazaar.com told Skift.
What Influences this Behavior? A major chunk of Indian travelers visit Asian countries, where policy documents are not required until the day of the trip. This practice can lead to travelers overlooking the importance of securing insurance well in advance.
Benefits of Travel Insurance: To provide protection against baggage loss, flight cancellation, and medical emergencies.
Key Findings:
Budget carrier IndiGo has decided to place an order for another 10 A320 neo family aircraft.
Existing Order: The additional aircraft will be part of a previous order for 300 Airbus jets worth around $33 billion, which was placed in October 2019.
The latest decision comes three months after IndiGo announced placing a record order to buy 500 narrow-body planes from Airbus worth $50 billion, which was one of the largest-ever aircraft purchases by an airline.
Delivery: The aircraft will be delivered between 2030 and 2035, the airline had said.
International Operations: Foraying into Central Asia, IndiGo is set to operate four weekly non-stop flights between Delhi and Tashkent from September 22. The airline recently launched new flights to destinations in Africa, West Asia and Southeast Asia.
Russia is pulling out all the stops to lure Indian tourists in a bid to shore up arrivals in a post-pandemic scenario and amid the ongoing Ukraine conflict.
“We are still on our way to restore the flow of Indian tourists in Moscow like it used to be before the pandemic. Before the pandemic, there was very steady growth like 12-15% on a year-on-year basis,” said Bulat Nurmukhanov, head of international cooperation division at Moscow City Tourism Committee.
Visa Offering: The e-visa facility with validity for 60 days and a processing time of just four workdays was extended to Indians last month. The facility is expected to cut short the extensive documentation process and reduce the processing time.
“In the first half of this year, we have already received about 20,000 Indians in Moscow – 56% higher than the same period last year. Indians are coming back,”