Indian global assistance and travel insurance company TrawellTag has merged with Australia’s travel insurance and medical assistance provider Cover-More in a bid to provide Indian travellers with a wider range of services and better travel experience. Addressing the media at a press conference in Mumbai, Dev Karvat, Managing Director, TrawellTag Cover-More said, “We were looking for other players in the field who are more established and can help TrawellTag achieve better outcomes. The Indian travel insurance market is about Rs. 450 crores, and Cover-More already caters to four times that market size.”
As part of their agreement, the synergy will allow integration of complete travel service products; new e-commerce dimensions; higher sales; expansion of current products and an upgrade of IT systems. Cover-More has over 60 products, which TrawellTag will bring to the Indian market step by step. Adventure sports cover; car rental cover; overseas supply insolvency and trip cancellation cover are some of the products being integrated immediately, revealed Karvat.
“Some of the major challenges the Indian travel insurance industry faces are underpenetrated markets, lack of products, lack of product awareness, and limited channels. The key idea of the partnership is to help overcome these obstacles. For instance, Cover-More has developed a software in e-commerce called “Impulse” which helps sell products that are appropriate for each segment of traveller and the kind of holiday they are opting for. It even offers phone assistance for the clients as well as extended services for families back home in the case of business travellers, allowing for a stress-free trip,” he added.
Karvat further stated that Indian airlines have been approached by TrawellTag Cover-More to encourage them to use their e-commerce solutions such as Impulse. OTAs and travel agents have already been approached for the same. Furthermore, the company is conducting a National Training Drive to educate travel agents across India about their products. “We have already finished with Ahmedabad, and will move to Chennai next. We intend to cover 12-15 cities by March. The training will be conducted at different levels. We will follow up with the agents that get trained this time around, and move them ahead to next year’s training based on their work with the product,” he said.
Speaking about the advantages TrawellTag will extend to Cover-More, Karvat revealed that they would look at expanding the business to regions such as Egypt and Middle East where the latter does not have its reach. He further added that Cover-More will integrate TrawellTag’s baggage tracker service for its clients in the next quarter.
“We want to add more emotions to the product through this partnership, and not just through reimbursements and insurance claims, but through more advantageous services and tangible value,” said Karvat.
