New niche business travel insurer, Professionals Travel Cover, has launched this week a revolutionary travel cover product for marketers, advertisers and their agencies.

With Christmas holidays around the corner, agencies can now purchase a single annual travel insurance policy that covers up to ten professionals travelling per annum. It covers multiple trips, international and domestic, and is tax deductible for the firm.

Agencies don’t need to declare their staff’s medical conditions nor do premiums increase for older travelers under 65 years of age.

“This is a first in the Australian market. Unlike most retail travel insurance products, agencies do not pay increased premiums for professionals travelling with existing medical conditions,” says Professionals Travel Cover managing director, Ian Jackson.

Jackson adds some conditions do apply for the safety of the traveller, including those who have a terminal prognosis, chronic renal failure, AIDS, those who are waiting for organ transplant, are pregnant over 19 weeks, metastatic or secondary cancer and mental illness.

Called Business Class Travel Insurance the policy also includes free family cover.

“We understand that marketers and advertisers often like to combine their international business travel with leisure so we have bundled free travel for spouses, life partners and dependent children who are travelling with the policy holder.”

Also included under the Professionals Travel Cover policy, for no extra premium, is family cover for skiing and cruises.

Generally professionals choose between taking out a stand-alone individual cover or sourcing through insurance brokers which are typically designed for larger corporates, which, according to Mr Jackson can be expensive for a small practice.

“Our vision was to fill this void with a less complex, easy to purchase product developed specifically for professional practices,” said Jackson.

Jackson adds that professionals often rely on travel insurance provided as part of their annual credit card fees, without fully understanding the policy wording.

“Depending on the card, there may be a series of limitations including no cover for skiing, cruises or pre-existing conditions. High claim excesses, capped emergency medical reimbursements and no cover for domestic travel. Credit card insurance is usually conditional on spending a defined percentage of the trip on the card also.”

An agency’s Professional Travel Cover policy starts at $167 per head for an estimated 12 international and 32 domestic trips per annum. This price is based on ten professionals. Prices increase per head for smaller agencies.