10 Facts You Didn’t Know About Travel Insurance in the UAE

Travel insurance is a topic you may have seen come up in many blogs and articles related to travel, especially when it involves visiting foreign countries. Earlier regarded as a highly optional and often unnecessary thing, travel insurance is now better understood by travelers and bought to ensure their safety when abroad. But there are still several things that may still come off as a surprise to many tourists. This article is dedicated to the lesser-known or brand-new travel insurance facts in the UAE that will make your travel abroad far more peaceful and comfortable.

Waiting is Not the Smarter Choice

Waiting longer and longer till the time of your departure arrives to buy travel insurance is not the smartest choice you can make. Travel insurance is best bought early. Many people get confused about the coverage span of travel insurance. The coverage starts the moment you buy the plan and your trip bookings – whether flight, hotel or activities. Your travel insurance in the UAE will cover all cancellations that happened due to unforeseen events such as illnesses, natural calamities and weather changes. If you buy your insurance plan after the announcement of such an event that can lead to trip cancellation or curtailment, you will lose the benefit. So, always buy early when it comes to travel insurance plans.

Being Picky Pays Off in Case of Travel Insurance

Travel insurance is usually a one-time buy in the case of most people. Many folks choose to get annual multi-trip plans, but that’s only the case when you travel a lot for work and purposes. Buying one travel insurance in the UAE in plausibly several years should come with all the pickiness you can spare. You will be in a foreign country where the first point of contact in any dicey situation would be your insurance provider. So, be selective, compare as many plans as you can, gather some information from financial experts and only then invest in a plan that covers all your requirement at the price you like.

Travel and Health Insurance Are Not the Same

Initially, you may get the idea that travel insurance and health insurance are the same. However, the truth can not be further away from that. There are a few elements that are similar between these two kinds of general insurance plans, but the majority differ. Health insurance plans, ones with international coverage, will only offer cover for health-related emergencies and services, for example, emergency hospitalization, dental treatments, daycare expenses, etc. In addition to emergency hospitalization, dental, medical evacuation and repatriation, travel insurance in UAE also offers travel inconvenience and travel curtailment benefits. Travel Flight Insurance cover flight delay, trip cancellation, luggage delay, luggage loss or theft, loss of travel documents, and other benefits.

You can Get Travel Insurance Cover for Your Pets

The most recent development in the field of travel insurance is that now you can get your pets insured as well. This type of insurance works exactly as normal travel insurance in the UAE would work. You can get emergency medical treatment covered by insurance for your pet as well as medical evacuation and repatriation to the home country if required. Some more comprehensive travel insurance in the UAE offers reimbursement for pet care that you need to hire if you cannot take your pet with you. Make sure you explore enough to find such plans if it is something you may need.

Travel Insurance is Less Expensive Than Believed

Many travelers disregard travel insurance in the UAE as an unnecessary expense, while others shy away thinking that buying one would dramatically increase the total cost of their trip. But the sweet truth here is that travel insurance is actually quite cheap and doesn’t always have to burn a hole through your pocket. If you are buying the right kind of plan as per the frequency and type of your trip, travel insurance in the UAE turns out to be one of the most cost-effective general insurances out there. You can easily find plans that are comprehensive enough to cover every major inconvenience and fit your budget as well.

Bundle Deals Are Not Always Beneficial

If you have traveled independently before or bought the tickets for your trips, you may have come across bundled deals for flight tickets and travel insurance in the UAE. While buying in bulk or a bundle is mostly a good idea to save cost, it is not true in the case of travel insurance. The reason is that the cost of these plans is not justified enough when compared to the benefits offered in the plan. Buying your travel insurance with your airline tickets can turn out to be a not-so-profitable arrangement. So, always buy your travel insurance in the UAE separately after thorough research and comparison.

Travel Insurance is Mandatory in Many Countries

The majority of people may see travel insurance as something optional. However, the fact is that travel insurance is mandatory to travel to many countries across the world. All 26 Schengen countries require people on visitor visas to have proper travel insurance. Apart from that, UAE itself has made travel insurance mandatory for everyone entering the country on a tourist or visitor’s visa. Make sure that you have checked the mandatory insurance requirement of the country you are planning to visit to avoid any unnecessary trouble.  

You Can Get a Special Cover for Adventure Sports

Almost all travel insurance providers offer a few specialized covers for activities that are generally disregarded as dangerous, and hence, excluded from insurance coverage. Such activities can include terrorist attacks and adventure sports like skiing, sky diving, etc. Since many people take special vacations just to enjoy adventure sports, insurance providers offer special covers for them. You can simply take any basic travel insurance in the UAE and take adventure sports cover as a rider with it. It comes with an additional premium and covers everything from equipment to injury.

Pre-Existing Conditions are Not Covered, Unlike Health Insurance

Health insurance plans in the UAE are required to offer coverage for pre-existing conditions, even if it is after a small waiting period. It is common to think that your travel insurance in the UAE would also cover pre-existing conditions and their treatment. Emergency Medical Travel Insurance cover provided in travel insurance in the UAE specifically excludes pre-existing conditions. If you get sick because of a prolonged illness, your treatment will not be covered by the insurance plan. Make sure that you let your provider know about any pre-existing conditions that you have beforehand.

Online Reviews Are Quite Reliable

Goodwill of the provider is a pretty good benchmark to go by when you are looking to buy travel insurance in the UAE. Another surprising thing you can rely upon when it comes to deciding factors is online reviews of customers. The digitisation of the world and the recent threat of a pandemic has led most people to buy things online as much as possible. Online shopping also leads to honest reviews about the kind of services an insurance provider offers and the scope of coverage for their plans. Try and find such reviews and rely on them to find a good insurance provider for your upcoming travel.

In a Nutshell

The deeper you dig, the more you will get familiar with some very unique and seemingly impossible travel insurance facts. Even though gaining popularity, travel insurance in the UAE still has several sides and elements that are unknown to the people. Keeping these little things in mind will not only expand your knowledge base about an investment you are soon going to make but also ensure that you buy the best every time.