New COVID-19 insurance covers travel agents against cancellation costs

Considering impending announcements from the UK government on easing travel restrictions, ROCK Insurance Group has launched two new COVID-19 insurance policies to protect travel businesses and travel agents should customers need to cancel or postpone their trips due to coronavirus-related issues.

Commenting on the new policies, ROCK Insurance Group managing director Antony Martin said, “There has been a great deal of confusion around travel insurance recently and the travel industry has incurred significant costs because of it. We noticed a gap in the market for a solid COVID-protection policy so we wanted to create robust products which clearly outline what is and isn’t included.”

As the world is starting to open up for travel again, Mr Martin said that his firm realises the importance of reinstating confidence among travellers by offering pre-departure cover for the elements that are not covered under package travel regulations as well as cover during their trips. It hopes that its new policies will help drive customer bookings while ensuring the travel trade is better prepared for any potential repercussions if the pandemic worsens and if any new pandemics emerge.

The first policy is a business insurance that covers agents against cancellation costs in the event that a customer books a holiday and needs to cancel due to testing positive for COVID-19, giving the opportunity for the agent to change the booking and recover additional costs in doing so. This policy is said to be the first of its kind in the travel insurance market.

The second policy is a consumer travel insurance policy that includes pre-departure cancellation if travellers test positive for COVID-19 (even if this is at the airport) and cannot travel.

It also covers emergency medical care and repatriation whilst travelling should the insured contract the virus whilst abroad. The policy is flexible which means if there is a COVID-19 outbreak at a destination, customers will be allowed to change dates or destination ahead of their trip without incurring administration fees.

Source: Asia Insurance Review