Sanjeev Mantri, executive director, ICICI Lombard said, “Customers are increasingly cautious and seek adequate medical cover, including COVID-19 cover for overseas trips. The bulk of travel purchases always took place digitally, with the numbers now only increasing. Once perceived to be not so important, travel insurance is now a necessity. ”

Mumbai:

Additionally, digital adoption is high for travel insurance purchases, as almost 1/3rd of customers looking for travel insurance visit the insurance company websites to purchase the travel insurance, while the other 30 per cent purchase from online aggregators and online travel platforms.

The study also highlights that international travel post-pandemic is more purpose-driven, i.e., for business/work and medical reasons.

The survey points out the impetus of pandemic driving travel insurance from being just a commodity to a necessity as post-pandemic, awareness and adoption of travel insurance increased significantly.

COVID coverage is the key benefit travelers seek while looking for travel insurance, not just medical coverage as more than 1/4th of customers bought travel insurance policies due to a COVID medical cover.

Also, an increase in post-pandemic trips to USA/ Canada (1.6x) and Europe (1.4x) similar to Asia and Australia was observed.

Commenting on the research Sanjeev Mantri, executive director, ICICI Lombard said, “Customers are increasingly cautious and seek adequate medical cover, including COVID-19 cover for overseas trips. The bulk of travel purchases always took place digitally, with the numbers now only increasing. Once perceived to be not so important, travel insurance is now a necessity. ”