People will now be able to purchase travel insurance through a Fijian insurance provider and FijiCare has launched their Comprehensive Travel Insurance product along with the VuvaleCare Micro-insurance.
While speaking at the launch, FijiCare Executive Director Avi Raju says FijiCare Comprehensive Travel Insurance includes COVID-19 coverage, accidental death and other travel-related benefits where both the visitors to Fiji and Fijians travelling abroad are eligible for the cover.
Raju says in about 8 weeks time people will be able to purchase this product through their Viber messaging app.
He says Fiji is one of the very few countries where people will be able to transact right from inception to payment on a messaging app.
Raju says VuvaleCare is an online platform through which people will be able to purchase Bundle Micro-insurance while more products will be available soon.
The Executive Director says close to 100,000 people are covered by the Bundle Micro-insurance product that covers funeral assistance, term life, fire and dwelling and personal accident insurance.
He says this will be available fully online through vuvalecare.com.
The Executive Director says the Fijian diaspora, Fijians who go and work under the worker scheme or just friends of Fijians who live offshore will be able to purchase this cover for their loved ones back in Fiji and thus promoting financial inclusion and greater insurance coverage for the most vulnerable.
He further says the claims environment has been very challenging post-COVID and they saw a record payout of $33.8 million in claims in 2022.
FijiCare Chairman, Dumith Fernando says in the last five years from 2017 to 2022, FijiCare has written three times more premiums which is a larger exponential growth than any other insurance provider.
He says they currently pay the largest amount of claims out which means they are protecting more people at a larger sum, which is a direct benefit to their customers.
Fernando says their solvency surplus is also up four times in that period which is more than any other insurance company.
He adds their share price has also increased more than four times.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Tourism, Viliame Gavoka says in some cases, there will still be doubts about whether having insurance is a necessity.
He says it is because it can seem like a luxury purchase for most people who simply cannot afford to pay for something they do not directly use and that is the reality.
He says, however, another reality is that risks although the same such as fires or injuries affect people disproportionately.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Tourism, Viliame Gavoka says in Fiji, low-income earners are the most vulnerable and the least protected.
He says this is where affordable and accessible insurance that caters to scale is critical.
Gavoka adds the rise in tourism travel is fueling the growth of the travel insurance market.
The Deputy Prime Minister says as the Minister responsible for Tourism, he hopes we get to see more micro-insurance bundles covering not just resource-based sectors but tourism too.
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