Travel Insurance

Travel insurance is a policy that covers financial losses and emergencies during a trip. It provides protection against unexpected events such as medical emergencies abroad, trip cancellation, lost baggage, passport loss, and flight delays. Travel insurance is essential for international travel but also useful for domestic trips.

What Is Travel Insurance?

Travel insurance covers a range of risks that can disrupt or make a trip financially costly. You can buy it for a single trip or as an annual multi-trip policy if you travel frequently.

For international travel, travel insurance is often mandatory as a visa requirement (especially for the Schengen zone in Europe).

What Travel Insurance Covers

**Medical emergency:**
Covers hospitalisation and treatment costs abroad, which can be extremely high. Emergency medical evacuation to India is also covered.

**Trip cancellation or curtailment:**
Reimburses non-refundable expenses (flight tickets, hotel bookings) if you must cancel or cut short the trip due to illness, death of a family member, or other covered reasons.

**Baggage loss or delay:**
Pays for lost, stolen, or damaged checked baggage. Also covers essential purchases if baggage is delayed beyond a specified period.

**Passport loss:**
Covers the cost of getting an emergency travel document abroad.

**Flight delay:**
Provides a fixed compensation for delays beyond a specified duration (usually 6 to 12 hours).

**Personal liability:**
Covers legal liability if you accidentally injure someone or damage property in the destination country.

What Travel Insurance Does Not Cover

– Pre-planned trips to countries under travel advisories
– Injuries from adventure sports (unless specifically included)
– Travel for medical treatment abroad (medical tourism)
– Loss due to your own negligence
– Pre-existing conditions (unless disclosed and accepted)

How to Buy

Travel insurance can be bought online from insurance company websites, travel aggregators, or through airline booking platforms. Premium depends on destination, duration, age of the traveller, and coverage chosen. For a 10-day US trip, a basic individual travel insurance policy typically costs Rs 800 to Rs 1,500.

Practical Example

Priya travels to Europe for 15 days. Her travel insurance costs Rs 1,400. During the trip, she develops appendicitis and is hospitalised for 3 days. The total bill comes to EUR 8,000 (approximately Rs 7 lakh). Her travel insurance pays the full amount. Without insurance, this emergency would have been financially devastating.

Key Takeaways

– Travel insurance covers medical emergencies, trip cancellation, baggage loss, and other travel risks
– Medical cover is the most important component, especially for international trips
– Schengen visa applicants must have minimum EUR 30,000 medical cover
– Buy travel insurance as soon as you book your tickets to get trip cancellation coverage
– Annual multi-trip plans are cost-effective for frequent travellers