www.gosure.com

GoSure.com has been offering travel insurance online for over 7 years and was the first UK travel insurance website to issue policies online. Since then we have insured nearly 250,000 passengers and been at the forefront of providing innovative cover at premiums that are up to 60% cheaper than booking through a travel agent.

The GoSure.com website is designed to be simple and easy to use and delivers your policy documentation instantly by email and an SMS text message provides your policy number and the 24-hour emergency medical assistance helpline number, leaving you with complete peace of mind that your fully covered.


Holiday Doctors OnLine – E-Med
 

For travellers abroad it is probably easier today to find a cyber café than a good English-speaking doctor. With this in mind GoSure.com offers an option to select an online medical service (e-med) which promises 24-hour access to a team of doctors experienced in travel medicine.

The service aims to respond immediately to a patient’s problem, with diagnosis and advice on treatment or further investigations. This is useful for travellers presenting minor complaints such as sunburn or diarrhoea who just want to get an opinion from an English-speaking doctor. Should a physical examination be necessary, the service has a network of trusted doctors across the world.


Stats

The numbers involved currently amount to approx 17 Million single trip and 4 Million annual policies being sold in a year. Many young people and students are taking a “year out” for backpacker trips around the world, Gap year activities, VSO, and study abroad. This amounted to premiums of £600 in 2003. Mintel expects a 4% growth rate in the next few years giving premiums of £757 Million in 2007. A survey carried out in 2003 showed that approx 7% of travellers bought their policies on line, but interestingly when asked where they would look for a policy the following year, 21% declared that they would go to the internet. If this comes there is indeed an exciting opportunity for all Internet developers.
 

It is also not surprising that the Foreign Office are supporting the Travel Insurance Industry with various advertising and promotional campaigns to overcome and /or reduce the 20% of travellers who go abroad without cover and make a burden on the the consular services abroad.

Winter Sports

When you make plans for your skiing holiday this winter, check to ensure you have the right travel insurance for the type of trip that you have in mind. If you have an accident needing helicopter evacuation with complex medical treatment and a period of hospitalisation afterwards, the costs can soon spiral into the tens of thousands of pounds. And when you’re coming round from an anaesthetic is not the time to check the small print!

Certain standard travel policies give some form of cover for Winter Sports but you need to check carefully that the cover they give fits all your requirements. Every policy is different e.g. Snowboarding may be excluded from one policy but not another, similarly cover for skiing off piste. Other factors such as ski equipment cover (your own or hired); piste closure and loss of ski pass are all extras that are generally only included within a proper Winter Sports policy.

Gosure have developed a cost-effective specialist Winter Sports travel policy available through their website (www.SkiSure.com), to not only cover the standard requirements of a Winter Sports holiday but also provide optional covers that the more advanced skier or boarder might need. This can include such activities as the Cresta Run, Luge and even a certain amount of racing and cross-country skiing. Gosure designed the policy with the assistance of skiers who know the resorts well - and who also understand the risks they take!

Whichever way you look at the statistics, Winter Sports do produce a greater number of accident related claims, mostly involving breakage of bones, than other travel related insurance. So SkiSure takes extremely seriously the prompt administration and settlement of claims payments to the emergency medical and rescue services. Coverage includes initial evacuation from the mountain (by helicopter if necessary) and extends to medical treatment, hospitalisation and finally repatriation by air ambulance if required. Their SkiSure Excel policy also covers policyholders for any further private physiotherapy treatment required upon return to the UK.

A recent addition to all SkiSure policies bought via the internet is protection in the event that any part of the trip is not possible because of the financial failure of the accommodation company or airline. This is particularly relevant at the present time when there is so much speculation about the economic viability of the new low cost carriers. Three small airlines have already gone into liquidation this year leaving thousands of customers out of pocket; and as fuel prices escalate we can only expect more to follow suit.

As a major provider of travel insurance with a long track record and history of innovation (Gosure were amongst the first to trade on-line), Gosure is proud of its increasing position as a leading provider of Winter Sports cover and looks forward to providing you with the peace of mind that so many others have benefited from.

www.gosure.com