BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14
By Yusif Aghayev - Trend:
Collection of travel insurance premiums in the Azerbaijani insurance market is growing steadily from year to year, Trend reports Feb. 14 referring to the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA).
The value of collected insurance premiums for this type in 2019 amounted to 4.8 million manat ($2.8 million), which is 1.1 million manat ($647,058) or 29.8 percent more than in 2018.
An analysis of statistics of the past years shows that in 2017, Azerbaijan’s insurance companies collected 3.1 million manat ($1.8 million), and in 2016 - 2.6 million manat ($1.5 million) of travel insurance premiums. That shows positive growth dynamics of this type of insurance.
Travel insurance aims to provide insurance coverage for citizens during their stay abroad, outside the country of permanent residence. This type of insurance is comprehensive, including elements of personal, real estate and liability insurance.
The main objective of this type of insurance is to reimburse medical expenses incurred due to the sudden occurrence (or exacerbation) of a disease or the occurrence of an accident while a citizen is abroad.
Besides the insurance of medical expenses abroad, this type may include accident insurance, baggage insurance, transportation and repatriation costs, technical, consulting and legal services, liability insurance, flight delays and many other risks.
“An increase in insurance premiums for this type is primarily associated with an increase in the number of insured,” Director of the underwriting department of AtaSigorta insurance company Nigar Ibrahimova told Trend.
In some countries, such an insurance policy is a prerequisite for entry of foreign citizens into the territory of these countries. First of all, these are the Eurozone countries.
“Azerbaijani citizens made 5.5 million trips abroad in 2019, which is 13.4 percent more than in 2018,” Spokesman for the Azerbaijani State Tourism Agency Kanan Guluzade said.
The specificity of this type is that the vast majority of premiums for insurance of people traveling abroad are collected through an agent network of travel companies.
In general, the Azerbaijani insurance companies collected insurance premiums worth 681.2 million manat ($400.7 million) in 2019, which is 46.8 million manat ($27.5 million) or 6.4 percent less than in 2018.
Today, 22 insurance companies and one reinsurance companies operate in Azerbaijan.
(1 USD = 1.7 AZN on Feb. 14)