Adapting to a changing world
HISTORICALLY, travel
insurance has been a
grudge purchase but
it’s a small price to pay in the
greater scheme of things,
particularly as travel managers
become more aware of their
duty of care to their travellers.
Taking out travel insurance
is more necessary than ever,
even as the sector becomes
more difficult to navigate and
products change with the needs
of their customers.
For example, in November
last year, TIC introduced a
‘Weather Conditions’ benefit to
its product. It falls under the
‘Cancellation and Curtailment’
section of TIC’s policies and
provides cover for travellers
when adverse weather
conditions interfere with their
journey.
The Bidvest product is
also to undergo revision.
Wybrandt Lubbe, travel
manager of Bidvest
Financial Services,
says his company’s
product offering is being
revamped, with new
options to be available
from the middle of the
year.
However, insurance
companies need to
exercise caution when
considering significant
changes to their
products.
Jason Veitch, head
of travel insurance
for TIC, says although
there may be sporadic
increases in certain
risk categories, these have
not yet changed the general
risk profile enough to warrant
a major change in policies.
“When considering terrorism
risk it must be noted that
the majority of these events
are isolated and typically
in areas where the majority
of travellers would not be
exposed. Weather conditions,
although sometimes
devastating in a specific area,
are short-lived, and modern
transportation systems and
emergency services are now
far more capable of enabling
tourists to make alternative
arrangements. Emergency
medical treatment and illness
are still the major risk factors.”
TIC does offer hijack, hostage
and wrongful arrest coverage,
however.
Similarly, Anriëth Symon,
head of travel for Zurich
Insurance, says the company
strives to continuously update
its portfolio but that it has not
seen an increase in claims
for natural disasters, weather
or terrorism versus illness or
hospitalisation. Zurich’s policies
have ‘including terrorism’
as part of their death and
permanent total disablement
clauses, as well as separate
options for hijacking,
kidnapping and wrongful
detention and evacuation
cover in the event of a natural
disaster.
“We have noticed an increase
in medical out-patient, travel
delay and cancellation of
flights claims,” she says. “The
value of cancellation claims is
increasing from year to year.”
Effective communication and
reliable information are key
elements of a solid duty-ofcare
programme. As a result,
insurance providers are looking
at ways to keep their clients
continuously updated.
“TIC provides its policy
purchasing solution through
its website, which is available
to travel agents, brokers and
the public. This is continuously
updated to provide more
efficient solutions,” says
Jason. TIC is also considering
launching a mobile app for
clients.
Bidvest Travel Insurance is
also looking at new products
in the tech space. “We have
listened to the travel trade
– watch this space,” says
Wybrandt
Keeping track with
technology
TRAVELLER tracking
has become critical
for companies during
the current global
unrest and TMCs and
travel managers are
increasingly relying on
innovative technology to
assist with this difficult
task.
There is a wide range
of mobile applications
available to assist with
travel tracking. “Online
GPS-based reporting
has greatly enhanced
a company’s ability
to keep abreast of
travellers’ plans prior to
travel as well as their
whereabouts during
travel. These reports
are often customised
to accommodate
the company’s most
important needs. Pretrip
reporting enables
them to make the right
decisions from a riskavoidance
perspective,
while booked data
enables them to swiftly
locate travellers,” says
md of HRG Rennies,
Bronwyn Philipps.
However, technology
cannot be the sole
answer to travellers’
safety, says Wally
Gaynor, md of Club
Travel. “While cellphone
technology allows for
easier and immediate
communication with our
travellers, they often
use in-country SIM
cards, meaning they
are not available on
their SA numbers when
travelling.”
Monique Swart,
founder of the African
Business Travel
Association (Abta),
agrees: “Ensuring strong
and regular contact with
travellers is still of vital
importance, tracking tool
or not.
“It’s also important to
ensure that whichever
app is in use, it is likely
to continue working –
those based on phone
and network coverage
could experience
issues when networks
go down.”
3 helpful tech tools
1. Amadeus Mobile
Messenger
Amadeus Mobile Messenger
provides professional
assistance for handling
disruptive incidents such
as weather events, political
unrest or natural disasters,
and allows communication
with travellers at any time.
The product’s main interface
is a map on which travellers
are represented by pushpins
that indicate their location
according to their travel plans.
This allows the travel manager
to locate travellers according
to their booking data or
GPS location and feed them
real-time information about
disruptions or other events
that require their attention.
The app works both ways and
travellers can also actively
ask for support or react to
communication that is sent to
them.
The information from
Amadeus Mobile Messenger
can be received either in a
smartphone application or
via SMS, whichever is more
appropriate in the given
situation.
2. Travelport’s Agentivity
Agentivity, Travelport’s
business intelligence tool,
provides various reports that
can easily be compiled to
quickly and accurately locate
passengers at any given
moment. The report offers
the user a search by airport,
city, country, or combination of
items like airline and city (e.g.
where there is a strike on a
specific airline but only in a
certain city).
Travelport also offers
variations of these reports
to include items like a mini
itinerary and, as usual, they
are all downloadable via Excel.
One version of the report
can be used to produce a
passenger list categorised
according to specific flight
numbers (for the agency/
TMC), which comes in handy
during airline disasters.
3. Sabre Traveler Security
Sabre Traveler Security allows
travel managers and TMCs to
instantly pinpoint travellers’
locations and contact info
during Sabre-booked trips.
When users log in they will see
a world map, which they can
drill down to find the number
of travellers in a specific locale
and grab detailed contact
and reservation information.
It also allows managers to
quickly identify those who have
plans to travel to volatile or
disrupted areas in the future,
and make necessary lastminute
itinerary changes.
Travel managers will also
receive alerts when key
personnel are all booked on
the same flight, exceeding
the corporation’s maximum
number allowed. They can
then make the necessary
changes.
The technology further allows
users to generate reports on
corporate travel trends and
provide data when negotiating
preferred rates. These reports
can be scheduled to run daily,
weekly or monthly to meet
a variety of operational or business data needs.
Corporate travel – the wider the cover, the better
EMPLOYERS are starting to
ask more relevant questions
with regard to health, safety
and procedures to follow in
case of emergency events,
and agents need to know
their options.
Companies are
increasingly realising
that medical costs have
the potential to run into
exorbitant amounts, which
would have a far more
substantial financial impact
on the business than the
cost of an annual corporate
policy, says Wybrandt
Lubbe.
“The majority of corporate
companies no longer base
their decision on price alone
but rather on the availability
of comprehensive benefits
and assistance services
as part of their Corporate
Travel Insurance Policy,” he
says.
More specific queries
are coming through, often
related to the most recent
and top-of-mind event,
says Simmy Micheli, TIC
manager of sales and
marketing. When it comes
to selecting cover options,
Simmy advises travel
managers to observe the
terms of cover closely to
ensure employees are
travelling with the widest
cover possible. “Most of
our corporate travellers are
travelling into Africa where
malaria dominates medical
risks. Observe the terms
of tropical disease cover
closely and make sure you
opt for unconditional cover.
Read the fine print
CONSULTANTS should advise
their clients to keep the
following points in mind when
taking travel insurance:
1. If participating in high-risk
activities (such as skiing
or mountain climbing),
coverage is dependent
on whether the traveller
is participating in a
recreational or professional
capacity.
2. Check that cover includes
the cost of an unplanned
flight home if the traveller
is incapacitated.
3. Understand that
specialised medical needs
may cost an enormous
amount, particularly in
developing countries with
fewer facilities.
4. Check for age restrictions
or clauses about preexisting
medical conditions.
5. Familiarise yourself with the
claim process. Must the
traveller claim online from
their destination or wait
until they get home? Do
they need statements or
reports from the authorities
in the country they have
travelled to?
