Japan's Travel Insurance "Peace of Mind" Campaign

Above, the Great Buddha and travel insurance helped on tour member. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Fifteen years ago (incredible as that may seem) we had a group of 60 travel to Japan with G-TOUR.

Prior to our departure, part of the package offerings included travel insurance. I elected to take out travel insurance coverage, which includes medical emergency coverage. Fortunately, I didn't need it, but still had the "peace of mind" of having it just in case.

One member of our tour group did actually get seriously ill during the trip (during our stop at the Great Buddha of Kamakura) and ended up in a Yokohama hospital for about a month after we returned home. Fortunately for him, he also took out travel insurance coverage. So everything was covered.

Currently, Japan has a campaign to get visitors to get travel insurance for that "peace of mind".

According to an article in Insurance Business ASIA:

As the number of tourists in Japan continues to rise, various government agencies have launched campaigns to promote buying travel insurance, appealing to the tourists’ peace of mind. 

In recent years, there has been a surge in travellers leaving Japanese hospitals with unpaid medical bills, putting pressure on their budgets, Kyodo News reported. A government survey also revealed that close to 30% of inbound tourists did not have any overseas travel insurance.                  

And with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics approaching, the number of travellers to the country is expected to rise even further. 

In response to this, government agencies are taking various actions to encourage foreign travellers to buy insurance. These include placing flyers at tourist information centres in airports and hotels, as well as relying on the scare factor by distributing cards that show the price of the most expensive hospital treatments.

The campaign is more likely to give "peace of mind" to Japanese hospitals, knowing that the visitor has insurance coverage to pay for their services, rather than for the visitor. Still, it is a good idea to get travel insurance. Because, you never know!

To read more, go here.