Outbound travel is gradually becoming a leisure and vacation choice for many Chinese. According to the 2018 Statistical Communiqué on Cultural and Tourism Development released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, in 2018, the number of outbound trips made by Chinese citizens reached 149.72 million, an increase of 14.7%. Exotic cuisine, scenery, culture, and unique tourism services are attracting more and more Chinese to choose outbound travel.
Extreme incidents can happen during outbound travel — safety awareness and preventive measures are essential
However, even in those well-established travel destinations, it is sometimes difficult to completely avoid extreme accidents. In July 2018, a Chinese man was kidnapped in San Gabriel, California, with kidnappers demanding a ransom of 2 million US dollars from his parents in China. In February 2019, 33 Chinese citizens were robbed by a gang of Venezuelan and Colombian thugs at a luxury hotel in the Madre de Dios region of eastern Peru. In March, in Markham, Greater Toronto Area, Canada, a 22-year-old Chinese male international student was kidnapped in the underground garage of his apartment building. In April, two Chinese citizens were kidnapped by masked gunmen at a construction site in southeastern Nigeria. Kidnappings, abductions, and even riots and wars occur occasionally. Although the probability of such incidents is low, for individual tourists, once they happen, the impact is 100%.
Therefore, enhancing safety awareness and taking preventive measures are extremely necessary during outbound travel. For example, understanding local cultural customs and taboos, not trusting strangers easily, choosing safe residential areas, and protecting personal privacy. But sometimes, even if you do all these, you can guard against “nine out of ten” possibilities but not the “tenth.” Before relevant mechanisms are fully established, the financial and safety losses caused by these “one-in-ten” occurrences can only be borne entirely by the individuals and their families. Thus, how to protect the personal and property safety of overseas citizens from risks due to regional instability and poor public security in some countries has become a major challenge.
No longer torn between personal safety and property — the Global Travel Comprehensive Accident Insurance offersQuasi-military-grade safety protection
Faced with this challenge, while personal accident and medical insurance have become essential choices for outbound travelers, these types of insurance generally only provide rescue services for conventional accidents and sudden illnesses, especially focusing on medical service rescues. For specific extreme events such as kidnapping, abduction, and war, insurance products for citizens often do not cover them. Therefore, on June 18 of this year, Honhd Renren, in collaboration with Yi’an Property Insurance Co., Ltd. (Beijing), as well as Mafen Insurance Brokerage Co., Ltd. and Datong Insurance Brokerage Co., Ltd., and with Huadun GCS as the service provider, took the lead in launching a new insurance product — the Global Travel Comprehensive Accident Insurance — in Beijing to address situations where outbound travelers encounter extreme events.
As an insurance service provider with attributes of a crisis response agency, Huadun GCS has operational vehicles and human resources in its global service areas that can meet business needs. It is capable of dispatching negotiation specialists to the scene to formulate strategies for rescue and ransom payment in cases of hostage kidnapping and abduction. Even in extreme situations such as war, it can develop emergency evacuation plans and provide tools. Such comprehensive safety protection can truly be called “quasi-military-grade.”
Outbound travel is an exploration of foreign cultures, a journey to savor exotic cuisines, and a visual adventure. If you feel that despite having done thorough research and taken comprehensive safety precautions, you still have concerns about certain extreme incidents, then bring the Global Travel Comprehensive Accident Insurance for yourself and your family, equip yourselves with “quasi-military-grade” safety protection, and let the wonderful adventure begin.