ITIJ Awards 2022 Review
This year’s ITIJ Awards were held in the spectacular surroundings of the Megaron Athens Concert Hall, where 500 travel and health insurance industry professionals gathered to celebrate the achievements of the brightest and best of the sector.
The awards reflect the incredible efforts of companies across every aspect of the business – from marketing, to air medical provision, hospital care and medical assistance. The main award, as always, is for Travel & Health Insurance Company of the Year – this year, the award was taken home by Southern Cross Travel Insurance – a firsttime winner for ITIJ, and richly deserved. Thank you to all the companies that entered the ITIJ Awards this year, and to the judges for spending time carefully evaluating and scoring the entries to determine the finalists and winners.
International Travel & Health Insurer of the Year
Sponsored by: New Frontier Group
Winner: Southern Cross Travel Insurance
Judges’ comments
“An impressive presentation, covering almost all aspects of the criteria requested. With a genuine focus on product, policy documentation and genuine customer service, not technology, this company shows a strong focus on inclusion and diversity, as well as an impressive and very high quality of response to customers after Covid.”
Jo McCauley, Southern Cross Travel Insurance CEO said: “I couldn’t be prouder of our team at Southern Cross Travel Insurance in being recognised amongst some very prestigious global brands. I feel so privileged to work with a team of the best in the business who have customers at the heart of every decision they make. Like many other organisations in the travel industry, we’re continuing to experience pressure on our team, who are doing their level best to respond to the customer demand in a timely way. Nevertheless, we are sparing no effort to be there for our customers, as we always do. I’m sure this award will help all the people in our amazing team feel confident about the way they have managed through some tough times. They should be proud. I certainly am.”
International Assistance Company of the Year
Sponsored by: UnitedHealthcare Global
Winner: World Travel Protection
Judges’ comments
“Great recognition of the changing needs of current travel following the pandemic. As well as new offices and systems, they have development plans and training to ensure clients’ needs and knowledge are met. Great duty of care.”
Adrian Leach, CEO of World Travel Protection, said: “WTP are humbled to have been named International Assistance Company of the Year. This prestigious award is validation of our world-class team, which puts customers’ needs at its heart, combined with our on-going investment programme in leading-edge products and services. Travel risk has grown exponentially in the last two years for all forms of travellers, resulting in insurers and organisations having a greater obligation than ever to ensure the health and safety of their travelling community. World Travel Protection has the expertise, experience and industryleading technology to mitigate travel risk and we look forward to creating new hallmarks of excellence in the future.”
Air Ambulance Company of the Year
Sponsored by: AP Companies
Winner: Redstar Aviation
Judges’ comments
“This company has shown its ability to emerge from the pandemic with more capabilities, and has invested in its fleet and staff to ensure high-quality services can be provided to insurance and assistance company partners.”
Ozan Alemdaroğlu, Deputy General Manager at Redstar Aviation, said: “I want to sincerely thank all of the ITIC & ITIJ committee and the judges for recognising Redstar’s achievements and potential for the future. We are very humbled and look forward to bringing the award home to Istanbul!” Emre Dursun, CEO and Board Member at Redstar Aviation, added: “This is a great honour and certainly an amazing recognition for our outstanding teams. At Redstar, we always put our clients and patients first and I am delighted that this was highlighted by the judges in their statement as well. We are truly a company like no other and we are very much looking forward to showing our clients what else Redstar can do. This is certainly just the beginning.”
Medical Provider of the Year
Sponsored by: Healix
Winner: Luz Saúde
Judges’ comments
“A great application showing the background of both the provider and their growth, demonstrating clearly how they have differentiated themselves from other providers in their area, with subsequent adaptions for international needs. They have also added extra support services due to Covid-19.”
Eve Jokel, Head of International Patient Services at Luz Saúde, received the award and thanked ITIJ for the distinction: “It was a great honour to receive this award on behalf of Luz Saúde and Hospital da Luz because it confirms the value of our work in guaranteeing access and overcoming language and cultural barriers for international clients, and thus, fulfilling our service promise to international insurers and assistance companies. This award affirms and distinguishes Luz Saúde as a company that is trusted to deliver quality care through our healthcare units with high levels of satisfaction, as well as to achieve successful and productive collaborations with diverse client groups.”
Outstanding Industry Contribution of the Year
Sponsored by: Vitesse
Winner: Blink Parametric
Judges’ comments
“An excellent submission that cleverly identifies a real customer/ insurer issue and highlights a problem which existed in the past but has become even more prolific in the current climate. This is a high-tech operation that manages to convey its goals and substantial achievements clearly. This company should be congratulated ‒ this is undoubtedly an outstanding contribution to the travel industry.”
Carl Carter, Chief Commercial Officer, Blink Parametric, said: “Thank you ITIJ for this tremendous honour. I know that we are among the best and the brightest of the world’s travel and health insurance industry professionals and to have our work recognised in this way is a source of great pride and is sincerely appreciated. Our parametric travel insurance platform had an opportunity to shine in this past year for our travel insurance partners around the world as global travel made its comeback. Our solutions for lost luggage and flight disruption addressed significant pain points for travelling consumers in realtime, while increasing revenue and delivering significant operational savings for the insurers. We are proud of what we have achieved to date and we’re only getting started! Thank you to the Blink Parametric team for your can-do and innovative spirit. Thank you to all our global partners – for your belief in us and for helping us drive the positive industry change that is being recognised this evening.”
Travel Insurance Product Innovation of the Year
Sponsored by: Albin International Repatriation
Winner: Trawick International
Judges’ comments
“A great focus on adventure travel – a niche not many insurers provide cover for, I liked it! This company has created a very clever, albeit niche innovation to the market. This product goes above what others provide ‒ and not only protects climbers, but also helps them find a reputable guide service.”
Daryl Trawick, President and CEO, Trawick International, commented on the award win: “This award is especially meaningful to us as innovation is one of our core values and we are passionate about creating groundbreaking products that truly protect today’s globally mobile population. The award ceremony was a wonderful celebration of all the excellent work being done in travel and medical insurance, and it was inspiring to be around so many thought leaders in the industry.”
ITIJ Marketing Campaign of the Year
Sponsored by: Everbridge
Winner: AMREF Flying Doctors
The 2022 ITIJ Marketing Campaign of the Year Award was won by AMREF Flying Doctors, which received hundreds of votes via the ITIJ website. Clearly, the message the company is communicating resonates with our audience of travel insurance and medical assistance readers. Through showing innovation in their design, and consistency in their approach to their messaging, along with a varied approach to digital, content and display advertising campaigns, AMREF Flying Doctors are a worthy winner of this prestigious award. Marton Modis, ITIJ’s Head of Sales, commented: “It’s always a pleasure to work with a company that is willing to think outside their box when it comes to their approach to marketing. Congratulations to AMREF Flying Doctors on winning this year’s award, and I look forward to seeing more innovations from them as we head into 2023.”
“AMREF Flying Doctors are delighted to have received the prestigious ITIC Marketing Campaign Of The Year award. We thank our international clients and partners for their continued support and trust, as well as choosing AMREF Flying Doctors to represent them in Africa. We also thank our amazing staff for their continued dedication while meeting and exceeding the needs of our customers every day. AMREF Flying Doctors commits to continue providing a world class Air Ambulance service in Africa and across the world."