Fears of catching Swine Flu have forced some UAE travellers to cancel their travel.
Insurance company AXA said it had already received claims from the customers of two UAE-based travel agents who wanted to cancel their travel plans due to Swine Flu fears.
“The clients were travelling to Japan and if they hadn’t had insurance with us, they would have to pay a cancellation fee, but we cover them for up to US $5000,” said AXA Insurance manager – travel (Gulf Region) Hermant Gupta.
“We have asked agents to tell us where [AXA Insurance] customers are traveling to in order for us to assess the risk; we are most concerned about Oriental countries.”
Gupta said that based on the current Swine Flu status worldwide, AXA Insurance expected to receive 15-20 claims per month for the next three months, “depending on what happens next”.
“The leisure season hasn’t really started yet so we don’t expect too many cancellations,” he said.
“We expect more corporate travel cancellations at the moment.”
Another insurance company, AIG, said that the health of safety of its customers was of “paramount importance”.
“AIG is conveying to all leisure and business travellers, who have travel insurance cover through our numerous plans to consider deferring non-essential travels to areas of known outbreaks,” said a company statement.
“If travel is essential to and in those countries where outbreaks have occurred, we have informed our customers to follow the Center for Disease Control’s recommendations in order to reduce the risk of infection for the duration of their trip.”
The firm also advised its policy holders to “monitor international news for updates” and reminded them that its AIG Travel Assist global assistance service was available to provide assistance and advice to AIG customers 24-7.
“AIG Travel Assist is prepared to handle queries related to the current outbreak,” the statement added.
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