In a first step towards expanding its business and reiterating its commitment to the Indian market, TrawellTag Cover-More recently opened its new office in Mumbai. According to George Saunders, CEO – Asia, Cover-More, the new premises allows the company to accommodate its staff expansion, as well provide a more enjoyable ambiance for the staff, clients and guests.
Speaking with the media on the sidelines of the inauguration, Saunders stated that India is a growing market for the company, rapidly gaining importance for the company, whose focus has been Asia, particularly China and India. “Asia is our focus growth region, especially China and India, and we will invest at least equal amounts in these markets. India as a growth market is one of the reasons we are with TrawellTag – to remain close to it,” he added.
Dev Karvat, Managing Director, TrawellTag Cover-More revealed that the company is growing at twice the speed of the market. Saunders cited a general lack of awareness in the trade and the market about the importance of travel insurance as a deterrent to the segment growing, and stated that the company will plan more trainings for agents to solve this. “There is a general lack of awareness and part of the education process is increasing this awareness, not as a sales gimmick, but as an imparting of information to the public, through the trade, on the necessity of travel insurance,” he commented.
The company recently completed a training programme in association with ETAA and IAAI, and plans to emulate the same in Thane, Pune, Delhi and Bengaluru over the next two months owing to the overwhelming response received at the earlier sessions. Individually, the company also plans to conduct its trainings in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kochi.
“What we conduct is part of a three-tier certification programme, with the silver certification level ongoing. Those who complete this level will move on to our gold certification next year. Furthermore, we are in talks with all the associations to conduct trainings for their members as well. This is an effort to constantly upgrade the skills of the travel agents and their staff as travel insurance is an under-penetrated sector. The industry is currently less than 20 per cent, and we want to invest in increasing this, make it an annual programme, and be part of the transition when the numbers move from 20 to 40 per cent and so on,” said Karvat.
Saunders agreed that the move is not an expense but an investment in building awareness among the public and trade. Citing the success of the training programmes so far, Karvat revealed that one of the agencies trained has seen a growth in conversion rate from 20 per cent to 31.5 per cent.
Speaking more about their plans in the Indian market, Saunders revealed that the company plans to launch a new product for the market, but is awaiting all its approvals to make an official announcement. Karvat further stated that, although the company’s e-commerce team is working on a strategy to reach out to the consumers, the focus is agents as the travel insurance component is a small one in India, mainly facilitated through the trade.
