It was announced that it has acquired the assets of Viajes MAPFRE from MAPFRE, a major insurance company in Spain and leader in non-life insurance in Latin America. The transaction encompasses business travel management, meetings and events, and leisure travel activities in Spain, with an option to acquire these activities in Latin America as well. Total sales of the newly acquired business, which will be operated under the Carlson Wagonlit Travel brand, are approximately €60 million in Spain. CWT will integrate Viajes MAPFRE employees into its organization. Under the agreement, CWT will be the travel management company for MAPFRE in Spain for at least three years.

The possibility of later servicing MAPFRE on an international basis is part of the agreement. The acquisition will enable CWT to increase its travel management activity in Spain; increase its Meetings and Events business; build upon its existing travel agency network for small and medium-size companies; and expand its leisure travel services, currently offered to employees of client companies, to the general public. MAPFRE will become the preferred travel assistance service supplier of CWT. CWT will also promote their medical insurance to its employees in Spain.

India is an enormous and hugely diverse country that offers visitors a memorable experience that is beyond most people’s expectations. The beauty of the breathtaking Himalayas in the North, magical charm of colourful Rajastan, surreal beauty of the Taj Mahal, spiritual atmosphere along the banks of the Ganges in Varanasi, and the stunning deserted coastline of Kerala, all combine to make India a truly unique holiday destination.Delhi, the capital of India, boasts an impressive fort, reminiscent of the city’s Mughal past and a maze of curious streets and alleys in the old city. Only a short trip north of the city is Agra, where you can enjoy picturesque views along the river and admire one of the world’s most impressive buildings, the Taj Mahal.

Rugby fans eager to catch a game or two in the Six Nations tournament should make sure that they do not head off to the continent without travel cover, according to Halifax Travel Insurance. The financial service provider explains that if people are planning to take another break in the next 12 months then it may be beneficial to take out annual cover rather than just a single-trip policy.

Paul Birkhead, senior manager of underwriting for Halifax Travel Insurance, states that since more consumers taking short breaks, annual cover is proving to be an attractive option for many travelers.”The main benefit of annual cover is that you only need to take out your policy once a year to be insured for as many trips as you like within a 12-month period, allowing rugby fans to focus all their attention on getting to the game,” he concludes.

IT has been named the new President of Travel Insured International by the company’s Board of Directors. He becomes the company’s second President, succeeding Travel Insured’s founder Peter Gehris, who continues as Chairman and CEO. Additionally William Scully III has been appointed as Travel Insured’s Vice President of Operations, a new position. Scully joins the company from Hartford Life Insurance Co., where he served as Assistant Vice President for Investment Products Technology. Gehris, who remains Travel Insured’s COO while adding his duties as President, joined the company in 1994. He has risen through the organization directing company growth in operations, operating systems, sales and customer support areas. “My father has been, and continues to be, an amazing mentor,” Jon Gehris said. “I have learned a tremendous amount about successfully running a business and creating a winning environment within Travel Insured.”

Most recently Gehris served as Executive Vice President and COO, overseeing Travel Insured’s day-to-day operations. He established new performance standards for superior customer service, and supervised Travel Insured’s recent upgrade of company Web and GDS Travel Distribution technology. Travel Insured is now embarked on the strongest growth cycle in its history with 2008 projected to well surpass the record sales results of this year.

Scully worked with Travel Insured International Founder and CEO Peter Gehris as Director of Operations and Treasurer at Travelers Equities Sales Inc., a subsidiary of Travelers Insurance, in the mid and late 1980s. “I am extremely excited to have Bill join Travel Insured’s leadership team,” said Travel Insured President Jon Gehris. “We will benefit from his experience and his proven track record of developing outstanding teams and operational workflows. More than ever, Travel Insured’s growth opportunities will be well supported by Bill’s leadership.”

Travel medical insurance is a kind of insurance that is linked to the coverage of the expenditures made to meet out the cost due to medical reasons. In other words, it can be said that these types of medical insurance policies will be covering the medical, surgical and dental emergencies experienced by individuals in various places. As a wise man, you need to always focus on how you are going to manage the expenditures that may occur as an emergency condition, during travel. Let us imagine that you have not taken this type of travel medical insurance policy, you are stunned to cough out fifty thousand US dollars from your own money for some emergency medical reasons, during the travel.

You get a great relief when your insurer settles your expenditure pertaining to such emergencies. Nobody can predict what will happen to us during the travel to many places. Hence, we need to be prepared in this regard, always. But as a consumer, let’s choose some insurance firms that can offer high rate as the settlement amount, when there are some medical reasons, during making of any travel to any place. Many firms may insist on different premium amounts to be paid pertaining to the travel medical insurance. Similarly, there are many firms that will reveal the linkage between age factor of an individual and the policy amount that is to be paid.

Some firms also make many advertisements with regard to the multi trip policies and link to the travel medical insurance. However, it is the individual’s choice to select the type of package in this insurance policies pertaining to the travel medical insurance. By selling direct to the consumers like you, some leading travel medical insurance firms are saving the consumers up to forty or fifty percent in commissions charged by other routinely functioning travel medical insurance firms.

Canada’s leading online travel insurance provider, launch new quotation module to its Travel Insurance Quotes System (“TIQS 2.4”). TIQS 2.4 now offers Snowbirds and senior Canadian traveler’s comparative quotations of Canadian medical insurance that does not require completing a medical questionnaire. Now all Canadian seniors, in spite of age or medical condition, can purchase medical insurance for trips out of Canada. Many of the Canadian travel medical insurance companies now offer seniors medical insurance without answering a medical questionnaire. TravelInsuranceQuotes.ca has designed a quotation system that allows the seniors to input their ages and trip length and return a report of medical insurance plans that are guaranteed issue travel insurance plans. The applicable pre-existing condition clauses are clearly displayed for easy comparison.”

Many Canadian seniors with pre-existing medical conditions feel as though they do not qualify for travel insurance. Our purpose in developing the guaranteed issue travel medical insurance system is to demonstrate that medical insurance is available for everybody. Our system will allow seniors to compare plans by price, availability and, most importantly, applicable pre-existing condition clauses. Seniors can determine if the guaranteed issue plans right for their travel plans.

According to InsureMyTrip, Travel insurance covers many things that are omitted from healthcare plans and other policies and consumer may not be aware of this.The comment comes in light of economic troubles in the US, which are threatening to have an effect on the global economy, and are causing concern among some travellers, InsureMyTrip notes.” No one wants to lose money, so it is important to purchase Travel insurance to protect trip investments,” Jim Grace president of InsureMyTrip commented.

He added that those taking “once in a lifetime” holidays did not want to risk losing the break they have worked hard to pay for, should anything go awry. Among the areas Travel insurance offers protection for in addition to cover for cancellation of a holiday are bankruptcy, travel delays, illness or injury, pre-existing medical conditions, medical expenses and missed connections.

Recently, a man travelled to one of the EUmember states on an official visit. Of course many people have done so onnumerous occasions but it wouldn’t be worth mentioning if it didn’t have atwist to it. Before he left, he had to obtain a visa with a rare condition -all successful visa applicants had to get comprehensive travel insurance(including health cover).He met all the conditions, obtained the visa and leftfor the trip. That was the expected and simpler side of the story.

Two dayslater, and after dinner, he was struck by food poisoning and had to be rushedto hospital shortly after mid-night when less-costly options - including acall-in at a pharmacy - where beyond reach. But before the medical staff wouldtouch him, they asked whether the patient was covered by a health insurance policy.Through “procedural coercion,” he had gotten the cover. The insurerwas the American Insurance Group (AIG), probably the only internationalinsurance service provider of its kind in Uganda. But if he had not hadinsurance cover, the money he had on him would have perhaps cleared only thedoctor’s consultation costs. At the hospital, the patient was x-rayed and hisblood tested for a number of factors, including analysis of the functioning ofseveral internal body organs.

Done any cross-border gambling lately? Forget casinos. When you zip across the border to do some shopping, you’re gambling unless you have travel emergency medical insurance. Unless they enjoy risking financial ruin, most people have the good sense to get travel medical insurance when they vacation in the United States and other destinations. But it’s easy to forget about coverage when you cross the border for a day or even a few hours.

The Medical Tourism phenomenon is not new to India, as people have been visiting the country for medical treatment for over a decade. Patients from US, UK, Middle East, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan come to India to avail of health care services. In the past five to seven years, a large number of hospitals have sprung up with the required infrastructure to provide services on par with the global standards in order to tap this segment.

Earlier, patients from the neighboring SAARC countries flocked to India for treatment due to lack of advanced facilities and skill sets, and the NRI segment also came down to India due to the cost factor, which is one third in India compared to the country of residence. But of late, patients from Western countries like US, UK and other European nations, where the prohibitive costs for healthcare services and the waiting period even for baseline procedures such as a MRI scan can go upto take six months, and in countries like UK, where the healthcare system is driven by the government run National Healthcare Services (NHS), are coming down to India for treatment. 

Also, Indian doctors working abroad have earned a good reputation for their skill sets and this has also helped project an image of competent healthcare services in India. While initially tourists used to come to India to visit places and get a dental or facial treatment, they are now coming down to seek advanced treatments such as cardiac surgery, joint replacement surgery, spine replacement etc. According to Vishal Bali, CEO, Wockhardt Hospitals, “Today, patients have started looking at alternative destinations around the world for good and affordable healthcare. The healthcare delivery in India is far superior to the rest of the world, which is creating the demand for Medical Tourism.” Currently Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi and Chennai are the key cities in India which offer healthcare services that match international standards. Other cities like Hyderabad, Kochi etc. are also creating infrastructure to tap the segment. Also cities which have an active international airport are at an advantage as patients prefer coming directly to the location for treatment instead of travelling from one place to another.