Compare and buy best travel insurance for solo travelers

Find out what your travel insurance options are if you are travelling alone.

» What is the plan type?

Overseas travel insurance for solo travelers

Another one of latest trends if not a fad in our country right now, is solo travelling and off beat travelling. So what is it? More and more people of the young generation, the well to do college goers and young professionals are backpacking and heading out to popular as well as off-beat destinations as solo travellers. Backpacking can be understood as the form of travel, mostly solo or in a small group, with a longer and more flexible itinerary on a tight budget, with the intent of exploring and understanding a particular place as intimately as possible and not just being a point to point popular destination tourist. Currently it is estimated that between 5-10% of outbound travellers are taking off on their own to explore the world.

The global airline travel industry along with the Indian Outbound Tourism industry is witnessing a new trend in rising number of independent passengers who are going “Solo” or “Backpacking” abroad. Interestingly there are a significant number of these female Indian travellers, which is significant. This revelation has come to fore in a British Airways (BA) study. The BA has released the Global Solo Travel Study into the who, what and why of the trend across the world, and to understand which locations most of them are travelling away to.

The BA Global Solo Travel Study (focussing on Women Solo Travellers) of 18-64-year olds across UK, US, France, India, Germany, Italy, Brazil and China found that over 50% of women have taken a holiday by themselves, with 75% of women planning a solo trip in the next few years. According to the BA study, almost 47% of Indian women said they have travelled alone, for at least 2 – 5 times and 30% of Indian travellers intend to travel in the next 2-3 months. Maximum number of solo travellers in India is between the age of 18 – 25. The survey said that Indian traveller’s hopped/skipped continents the most with 37% have travelled solo to Europe and 33% exploring the UAE and Middle East.

Similarly for a backpacker the travel experience which includes the travelling, the local people and the place itself matter the most rather than the tourist spots, which are often explored extensively or full of tourists from across the world. As a concept, backpacking popularly originated in the west where travellers would take out a month to travel and explore places on a tight budget. Naturally as discussed the motivator for a backpacker is the ethos and the culture of the place being visited, experiencing the place first hand, understand the people and culture, meet new people and interact with them. And moreover, because they have a longer and more flexible itinerary on a tighter budget, conventional staying options which do not fulfill any of their requirements gave way to the concept of backpacker hostels, which is a growing trend both in India and abroad.
solo graph
According to the Amadeus study, one third (34%) of all outbound travellers are in the age group of 25-34 and they are the most likely to undertake solo or back packing trips.

Which is the cheapest travel insurance for solo travelers?

The traveller must be aware that as far as travel insurance is concerned “cheap insurance” most definitely means a limited coverage for the insured. Travel insurance premium depends on the age of the traveller, duration and destination of travel and the coverage opted for. When the traveller decides to opt for a limited coverage to have a lower premium, there could be ramifications in terms of coverage that could impact the traveller in the unfortunate incident of a large claim.

Assuming, one chooses to opt for a limited coverage of $50,000 while travelling to USA, in the event of an unfortunate hospitalisation due to an accident or sickness where in the insured needs a surgery and spend multiple days in hospital, this coverage will not be sufficient to take care of the medical expenses and the traveller will end up spending the remaining expenses from their pocket, which could be a sizeable amount. In an ideal scenario, the traveller should first consider their destination country and the cost of healthcare locally there. In almost all countries across the world, the cost of healthcare is significantly higher than India and hence this should determine the Sum Insured/Coverage opted for by the traveller and not the premium. In the earlier example, a traveller going to USA for a holiday or on business should have a coverage between $250,000 and $500,000 given the cost of treatment there.

Similarly if the traveller is going for a holiday to Asia, they should ensure their insurance plan has non-medical coverages like Trip Cancellation, Passport Loss, Flight Delay, Missed Connection, Personal Liability etc since these are risks associated with holiday travel. The incremental premium payable to purchase a comprehensive cover will not be significant when compared to the emergency situations that can occur and their potential financial impact.

We're here to help you with the comparison of travel insurance for solo travelers

Why travel alone?

Travelling with friends or family is grand, but sometimes it's nice to do a spot of intrepid exploring on your own.
There are so many reasons why people choose to travel alone. It can be a rewarding experience and one that you may find more enjoyable then travelling as a group.

Why you should buy travel insurance?

  • You need to cancel your trip unexpectedly
  • A hurricane damages your destination
  • There is a terrorist event
  • You get sick or injured on your trip
  • Your luggage is lost or stolen
  • You lose your passport

Travel tips for Indians

  • Plan in advance.
  • Buy Your Ticket in Advance
  • Buy Travel Insurance
  • Make Time for the Big Touristy Things
  • Pack light
  • Try to arrive during the day
  • Mix with others
  • Meet the locals
  • Watch the world around you
solo Traveller

Common factors for rejection of travel insurance claims?

travel insurance India
Tips to find best travel insurance

Tips to find good and adequate international travel health insurance... Click here to read more

Healthcare cost overseas

Comparison of overseas Healthcare cost and popular tourist destinations... Click here to read more

How does travel insurance work

How to use Indian visitor insurance in case of sudden sickness and accidents... Click here to read more

Popular Travel Destinations

Indian travel insurance for popular overseas tourist destinations... Click here to read more

India travel insurance useful links

How to buy online?

You can buy insurance online by using a credit/debit card, direct funds transfer using NEFT or RTGS or by using a cheque.

Know more »

Already outside India

Travelers who have already traveled from India and do not have insurance can buy travel medical insurance after approval.

Know more »

Travel Insurance Online Renewal

Insurance customers can renew their existing policy online before the exipry date at any time.


Know more »

Insurance Claims

In case of a claim or reimbursement of treatment expenses, notify by contacting them.


Know more »

Tips on air travel

Travel tips for Indian parents

Know more »

How are Claims settled?

Are travel insurance directly billed or is it reimbursement basis, is there a hospital network.

Know more »

How does travel insurance work

How to use Indian visitor insurance in case of sudden sickness and accidents

Know more »

Healthcare cost overseas

Comparison of overseas Healthcare cost and popular tourist destinations

Know more »

Tips to find best travel insurance

Tips to find good and adequate international travel health insurance

Know more »

EIndia General Insurance Partners

  • Tata Aig
  • bajaj-allianz
  • reliance
  • cholamandalam
  • religare health Insurance
  • Star Health
  • future generali
  • go digit
  • hdfc ergo
  • cigna ttk
  • universal sompo
  • SBI
  • iffco tokio
  • Cigna TTK
  • Aditya Birla
  • Raheja QBE
  • New India Logo
  • Oriental Logo
  • bharti axa health Insurance Plans
  • kotak

Indian travel insurance resources

India travel insurance useful links

-

ONLINE CHAT

Keep in touch

  • Address

    InstantCover Insurance Web Aggregator Private limited
    710, 6th B Cross, 16th Main Road, Koramangala 3rd Block, Bangalore - 560 034.

  • +91-(80)-41101026
  • Send an email
CIN: U66000KA2018PTC117713 | IRDAI Web aggregator License Code Number: IRDAI / INT / WBA /53/ 2018, Valid till 07/08/2025