VisitorsCoverage enjoys Indian boost
Silicon Valley, US-based travel insurtech VisitorsCoverage has reported a significant increase in the number of Indian customers using its online portal to search for travel insurance policies. Indian tourists are travelling to the US in increasing numbers – over 1.4 million trips were noted in 2018, a seven-per-cent increase compared with the year before – and this seems to be reflected in travel insurance searches; VisitorsCoverage saw a rise of 172 per cent in the number of Indians looking for cover through its website between Q1 last year and Q1 this year.
These searches were mostly for short-term visitors’ insurance, though long-term visa, student, visiting parents and immigrant travel medical insurance were also popular searches. Positively for VisitorsCoverage, over half of these searches were from returning customers; India represents a major global market for the company.
“Not only do more US-based providers recognise and accept US-based insurance,” pointed out Rajeev Shrivastava, CEO and Founder of VisitorsCoverage, “but non-US policies are generally reimbursement-based, travellers with India-based insurance may be required to pay out-of-pocket medical costs at the time of treatment. Filing a claim for reimbursement in India following the return home could be complicated, frustrating and lengthy as a result of different time zones and countries.”
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