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A travel firm selling tours across Latin America has launched a campaign to offer free travel insurance to its clients in a bid to prevent unnecessary distress should something go wrong with their trip. The Go Covered! campaign has been announced as a response to the growing number of clients who travel without adequate travel insurance, and the unusually high number of unforeseen incidents that have affected travelers to Latin America during the first half of 2010.
Many travelers who rely on insurance policies provided by their credit cards find themselves uncovered when faced with unusual circumstances. During the first half of 2010, travelers to Latin America faced disruption caused by various unforeseeable events, including flooding and landslides at Machu Picchu, an earthquake in Chile and the ash cloud that grounded thousands of flights from Europe.
In each incident, clients were faced with significant complications to their travel plans as well as heavy financial costs, all adding to the emotional burden of trips being cancelled or curtailed.
But aside from natural disasters, there are a huge number of potential complications to even the best-made travel plans. Sickness, problems at work and missed flights are all common reasons for making insurance claims. Once travelers are in-country, missed transfers, transport strikes and illness can all disrupt arrangements.
Research conducted between Latin America For Less and its insurance partner, iTravelInsured, has shown that 75% of all travel insurance claims arise before the traveler has even left home. Before the launch of the Go Covered campaign, around 85% of all clients were arriving to their travel destinations without insurance, often mistakenly assuming that their credit card had given them sufficient cover.
The campaign gives clients the option of taking out an insurance policy with no additional cost to the price of their trip.
Richard Leon, Director at Latin America For Less, said: “Travelers who don’t take insurance to cover their trip are leaving themselves open to unnecessary risks. It’s not only rare natural disasters and extreme weather that pose a problem to peoples’ trips. Smaller events like delays or minor health problems can also have a financial impact.
“If anything goes wrong during our clients’ trips, we always do everything in our power to help rectify the problem but people can still face unforeseen costs. With our free travel insurance campaign, travelers will be able to file a claim for reimbursement if surprises occur during their vacation.
“This is the latest step in our mission of offering the best quality, most reliable and highest value travel services to our clients.”
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
