Category Archives: Travel

Different Types of Travel Insurance

Travel insurance is indispensable to your travel. There are some people who do not think much of travel insurance, and there are others who take low-budget ones that covers the basic things. But hold on; is your life trivial that you’d go without insurance? The right kind of insurance for your travel needs can be the best thing that will bridge the gap of a travel disaster and the emotional-financial loss. You may have coverage for travel in your credit card but that is not of much help because they have limited coverage.

Here are the three general types of travel insurance that you should take:

Travel Health Insurance: It is unarguably, the most important type of travel insurance. To know if you really need one, contact your health insurance provider and find out how much can be covered though health insurance when you are travelling. If you find things that are lacking in your health insurance, you need to take insurance for travel. You will be able to get instant hospitalization in the network of hospitals in the cashless scheme or you will be reimbursed for treatment costs in the destination country, if you take the insurance. Even expenses for medicines and transportation from the airport or hotel to the hospital and back can be covered. However, there are some clauses in which this insurance can become void. So make sure that you study the insurance thoroughly before signing the dotted line.

Luggage insurance: Most people are prone to lose their baggage, luggage and belongings while on travel, especially in flight travel. So, if you take luggage insurance in travel, you will be reimbursed for luggage that gets stolen or damage during the course of your trip. However, you may note that certain expensive products like jewelry, laptop, high resolution digital cameras and obviously cash are not included in it. Even if some of them may be included in the insurance, there may be some conditions that you may have to adhere to.

Travel Insurance for canceled trip: Travel insurance covers the cost of cancellation of trip for certain reasons. Some of the cases include sickness or death of the passenger, death of a family member, sudden job loss etc. However, every policy may have its own customization for this kind of insurance.

It is therefore important to study the travel insurance that you are taking; understand what it covers so that you are not inadequately covered. For instance, if you take budget travel insurance, you may not be covered for damages through natural disasters because they are deemed as ‘acts of nature’ and therefore excluded. So before you buy a travel insurance, make sure you go beyond just the price quotes and understand the insurance and the coverage properly. Find out things that are clear and look for the ones that flock your mind with questions. Highlight them and call up the prospective insurance provider and ask questions. It is the job of the travel insurance agent to help you make the right decisions.

The New Face of Modern India in Travel & Tour

Today, India has the potential to become the Global Super Power. Now, India is the 2nd fastest growing economy in the world after China with the growth rate 8.5%, and by 2013 we will beat China and will be on the 1st Position. India is territorially a large country, geographically a peninsula with a strategically dominating view of three major seas which could potentially provide a basis to control ship traffic from the Indian Ocean to Pacific Ocean by putting toll gates at the Malacca Straits, a long continuing civilization (over ten thousand years), a large and young population(average age of 29 years as compared to of China of 38 years, and Japan of 47 years)- which is termed as Demographic Dividend, and as proven inventors of cutting edge scientific discoveries in mathematics, astronomy, surgery and recently in high quality IT software. At present India has demonstrated innovative capacity in Chip design, Thorium reactors, Biotech, and pharmaceuticals.

Travel & Tour is also the fastest growing industry in India. India tourism is gradually increasing every ending year. Nowadays, Indian people are traveling all around the world. The way of traveling by Indians is slightly different, preferring the luxury travel & tour.

Organizers of the recent Travel and Tourism Fair (TTF) in Ahmedabad conducted a survey among Gujarat attendees, and results showed a significant number of Indian tourists prefer luxury travel and accommodations.

TTF found that one-third of those surveyed had an average travel budget of Rs 80,000 as reported by the Times of India. Foreign tourism departments in attendance have taken notice of this trend and are offering more options for Indian travelers seeking upscale opportunities.

“Switzerland provides tourists an option of staying together in fully furnished homes or chalet with a kitchen where one can cook one’s own meals,” Swiss travel agent Puneet Sehgal told the news source. Sehgal also noted that at least 400 Indians choose Switzerland for group vacations each year.

Japan has been focusing promotions towards Indian tourists, specifically for theme parks. One Japanese travel agent at the fair told the Times of India that Osaka’s Universal Studios is a major attraction for Gujarati.

More than 15,000 people attended this year’s fair, including exhibitors from Egypt, China, Dubai, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and many other nations.

Celebrations times for Travel Industry…

Travel Magazine has been informed there has been an increase in Package Holiday bookings this year compared to last year even though we are still in a trick economic climate. High Street Travel agents such as First Choice and Thomas Cook are celebrating after people looking for Holiday Deals in September helped increase bookings this year by 75% compared to booking for holidays last September.

Some of the leading travel agents like Lets Travel India have been offering value deal holidays to help increase trade after the industry predicted early this year that the travel industry could suffer due to the unstable economic growth in the UK.

Some of the top selling destinations which have helped increase trade for travel agents have been Canary Islands, India Tour and Spain with people looking for cheap package holidays as a large number of families could not afford holidays last year.

Wise holiday makers have been keeping an eye on travel agents such as Lets Travel India to search for cheap package holidays after the company announced they were slashing prices on a large number of their holidays, while other holiday makers have been booking their own cheap flights and booking hotels abroad via the internet reducing the cost of their holidays.

It was feared that a large number of travel agents would see themselves left with thousands of unsold holidays but with holiday makers looking for cheap deals after leading travel agents were forced to reduce their package holiday prices, this fear has now been reduced and travel agents are now claiming most of their unwanted holidays for September have been sold.

The Indian travel industry is doing well with Indian flights. After having suffered from a somewhat slow season in 2008-2009, once again India is leading travel industry to the front, taken lime light and is seeing a growth in its travel industry of what is expected to be between 5-6% & 1-1.5% higher than the global average.

There are two reasons behind this boom: one is the upcoming Commonwealth Games being hosted in Delhi in October & 2nd one is the Indian government efforts to boost the travel industry through improvements to international travel services and accommodation. This includes the completion of Terminal 3 of Delhi’s International Airport. The terminal is now the sixth largest in the world with a capacity for 37 million passengers per year. For the tourist and business travelers, this means shorter queues, more comfortable lounge areas, plenty of shops and increased flight offerings from UK airports including Birmingham, Belfast International and direct from London Heathrow as airlines bolster the number of Delhi-bound flights.

In anticipation for the Commonwealth Games, the Indian government has also been giving the city of Delhi itself a major facelift; to such a point that professionals within the travel industry are anticipating that Delhi is quickly becoming a top contender as a one of the major travel destinations for world tourists.

Of course, with all of this attention focused on India, destination-bound airlines and hotels are offering tempting fares and fabulous budget accommodation prices for Delhi bound tourists and business travelers – both in October during the Commonwealth Games 2010 in Delhi and beyond.