UAE residents are not purchasing travel insurance

According to research by Zurich Insurance More than half of the UAE residents are not purchasing travel insurance when they travel abroad.Despite approximately 10 UAE companies offering travel insurance plans, most travellers from the UAE are not covered whilst overseas – and have never bought travel insurance. The study found that 58 per cent of those surveyed said that they have never been insured for travel and 32 per cent admitted that they opted for travel insurance occasionally.

“The reason for low uptake in our experience is primarily due to the fact that a large amount of trips abroad for the UAE residents tends to be travel back to home country and they assume that they may not require emergency medical coverage when they are home,” said Nilanjana Ghosh, head of marketing and communications for the UAE and Bahrain at RSA Insurance.

Since a high proportion of UAE residents are expats, many trips are taken to home countries where it is arguably less instinctive or even necessary.Figures have not changed much since Zurich surveyed 748 UAE residents in 2012.

“We know [that] UAE residents love to travel, with two thirds of the survey respondents travelling up to three times per year, but it is noteworthy how many choose to go abroad without cover in place for possibilities, such as personal injury, illness, missed flights, or stolen possessions,” said Jeremy Baggott, General Manager for Zurich’s General Insurance Business had originally explained.

“Every customer is different and the protection they need varies from person to person, but it seems apparent that many UAE residents are exposing themselves to unnecessary risk every time they travel overseas,” he continued.

According to the Zurich survey, the most common claims for those residents who do opt for travel insurance policies are lost or stolen luggage (48 per cent), lost or stolen possessions (45 per cent) and medical expenses (33 per cent) and missed or delayed flights (28 per cent).