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Canadians are travelling again, and this is great news for our supplier and retail travel agency partners.

Travel is becoming more appealing for customers as restrictions ease and suppliers release additional travel routes. With the elimination of pre-departure testing requirements for land, air, and cruise travel, and more travel destination choices, many consumers are eagerly booking their first trip in more than two years. And that’s not all – they’re doing so responsibly by purchasing travel insurance, according to our travel agency partners!

Our travel partners also shared that interestingly, travel insurance is outpacing net-new leisure sales. One reason for this is the number of passengers who are redeeming their Future Travel Credits (FTC) and purchasing travel insurance, now that they’re more aware of the travel risks associated with travelling unprotected.

Share this real life example (English only) with your clients of how travel plans can go awry, or not at all if they don’t have suitable insurance coverage. (Source: CTV News Toronto)

Our national team of 12 Business Development Managers (BDMs) are here for you and will be by your side as our industry takes flight again. Here are a couple of tips to help you save time:

• Insure the full trip value upfront so the policy doesn’t need updating when the final trip payment is made. Be sure to include all non-refundable arrangements such as hotels, pre-paid event tickets and flights.
• Our phones can get busy. Email Travel_referral@manulife.ca to connect with a Licensed Insurance Agent at our referral desk for out-of-province sales where you’re not licensed. Otherwise, to make an insurance sale to your customer, you must be licensed in the province where they reside.

Since the Government of Canada lifted its blanket travel advisories to Avoid non-essential travel and Avoid all cruise ship travel outside of Canada , travel insurance sales are returning to pre-pandemic levels, according to our travel partners.

In response, we hosted several confidence-building events for agents, retail owners, managers, and independent contractors, to help get them back in the swing of things. Record participation in our Elevate Your Expertise two-day event means we’re planning more sessions! Stay tuned for more information to come.

Make our updated sales tool, What to Sell Moving Forward, your first step. When you’re just not sure which plan is right, use this tool to help you more confidently navigate the various stages of a customer’s booking. Manulife makes it easy to match the best travel protection solution with their trip.

New! Bring travel protection to the forefront with tips from our Manulife Motivational Minute , which we publish on the 2nd Monday of each month. Learn how to build and leverage a virtual business card or make the best use of your real estate by sharing our Saved By Travel Insurance video testimonials. You can find these testimonials at igoinsured.com (sign in required).

Check out our Manulife Travel Insurance Webinar Schedule to find more tools and training designed to help you and your clients.

Earlier this year, the Government of Canada lifted its blanket travel advisories Avoid non-essential travel and Avoid all cruise travel outside of Canada.

We have 2 offerings that provide quarantine coverage. They are the Manulife COVID-19 Pandemic Travel Plan and the Manulife Global Travel Insurance Plans (some of which include Emergency Medical Benefits).

For Manulife Global Travel Insurance Plans that include Emergency Medical Benefits, these 3 conditions must be met for quarantine coverage:

1. The insured must be fully vaccinated at least 14 days before starting their trip.
2. The destination must not have an Avoid all travel or Avoid non-essential travel Canadian Government travel advisory due to COVID-19, before starting the trip.
3. The trip departure date must be on or after February 28, 2022, for non-cruise travel arrangements and March 7, 2022, for cruise vacations.

As the travel industry picks up, excited clients may want to make up for lost time and will take multiple trips a year – an annual insurance plan might be the most suitable option.

We’re tweaking our team structure to give you the best support we can. We now have a full team of Business Development Managers (BDMs) supporting our travel partners in their territory. This means you may have a new BDM assigned to your agency.

When you need assistance, we ask that you only contact your assigned BDM. If your BDM is out of the office, call the Contact Centre for help (as per your BDM’s out of office message). The Contact Centre team can assist you with general policy questions, day-to-day administration, iGO tasks, password resets, form of payment changes, and more. And the Contact Centre can also help if your inquiry requires urgent escalation, while your BDM is away.

Your IGO Insured password requires resetting every 90 days. Simply follow these steps to proactively update your password before it expires:

• Login to igoinsured.com
• On the top right-hand corner of the home page, select Change Password and follow the instructions

If you have to reset your password because it expires, here’s how:

The following plans do not require an authorization number to refund in www.igoinsured.com before departure:

• Emergency Medical Plans
• Annual Emergency Medical Plans (before start up date)
• Covid-19 Pandemic Plan
• $0 prior sum insured All-Inclusive Plan, Non-Medical Inclusive Plan, Trip Cancellation & Interruption Plan, Canada All-Inclusive Plan & Youth All-Inclusive Plan
• Baggage and Personal Effects
• Rental Vehicle Damage

Vacations should be enjoyable and relaxing – an opportunity to get away from life’s everyday stresses. And while Wendy Lanphear did reach this state of vacation zen, the road there was rocky. But – according to her – it would have been much worse if she hadn’t had Manulife travel insurance.

Wendy – a Manulife customer and travel agent, who helps promote our travel coverage options as part of her role with Travel Best Bets, based in British Columbia – is well aware of the benefits insurance can offer vacationers, always purchasing coverage herself before any big trip. But she never thought she would have to make use of the coverage, until a measly one-hour flight delay almost threw off her entire week-long Mexican cruise.

“As a travel agent, I know that when you cruise, you should never book your flight for the same day your ship is departing,” she said. “But there were reasons why I couldn’t fly into (Los Angeles) any earlier – never imagining the ripple effect that would have on my trip.”

Travelling with her sister, Wendy had a bad feeling when their connecting flight in Calgary sat on the tarmac a full hour after its scheduled takeoff.

“That small window of time pushed us back significantly,” she said. “By the time we landed in LA, got our bags and made it to the pier to board the ship, we were told by the crew that we’d missed the final boarding call and there wasn’t anything they could do about it.”

But in that moment – one that would stress out even the calmest person – Wendy was as cool as a cucumber.

“I knew what to do right away, thanks to Manulife,” she said.

Having purchased both our non-medical travel insurance, including coverage for missed travel connections, as well as our COVID-19 Pandemic Travel Plan for medical coverage, felt confident she would be well supported.

“As soon as they turned us away at the pier, I booked us a hotel for 2 nights, as well as flights to Puerto Vallarta that would allow us to join the cruise a couple of days later when the ship arrived at the port,” she explained. “I kept all of my receipts – for the hotel, the additional flights, our Uber rides, and all our meals, knowing they would be important to include with my insurance claim.”

But the missed connection wasn’t the only snag in Wendy’s vacation.

“The day we were to board the ship in Puerto Vallarta, I woke up to my eyes swollen shut,” she said. “Apparently, I had an allergic reaction to the motion sickness patch I put on ahead of the cruise. It was so bad that I didn’t think they were going to let me board the ship. They ended up putting me on intravenous (IV) for the next 4 hours.”

Fortunately, the IV treatment did the trick, and Wendy and her sister enjoyed the rest of their vacation in the sunshine – knowing they could submit the unexpected medical expenses as another claim under her travel coverage.

“It’s funny – I was debating the non-medical coverage; I’m glad I changed my mind,” she said, adding that she always buys medical travel coverage before a vacation. “I always tell my customers that if they have appendix and ears, they need medical travel coverage at the very least. Appendix can burst at any moment – and ear infections are so common. You don’t want to come down with something unexpectedly and wish you had purchased insurance. It can be a costly regret.”

Wendy also praised her Manulife Business Development Manager, DeeDee Sixto, for doing a great job of educating her on the product and coverage options.

“DeeDee – and frankly everyone I’ve worked with at Manulife – has always been thorough and clear on what’s covered and what’s not – which, in turn, makes my job easier when promoting travel insurance to my customers,” she said. “I know their (travel) policies inside and out, and it’s because of the great training I’ve been given by your team.”

Looking to save on your business costs? It’s time to review your insurance options!

Explore a unique preferred group insurance package for Manulife sponsored travel agencies only – underwritten by Northbridge Insurance and administered by Marsh Canada Limited.

Program features:

• Errors and Omissions (E&O) liability insurance
• Commercial general liability (CGL) insurance
• All risks property insurance

Contact your Marsh Canada Limited licensed insurance broker by toll-free phone 1-844-493-4992 or email businessinsurance.travel@marsh.com.

Greg passionately leads the Manulife Travel Sales team made up of Business Development Managers (BDMs). His team works to give you, our clients, the best service possible, which aligns with Manulife’s core beliefs, especially “obsessing about customers.” For Greg, it’s about teamwork, hard work and celebrating success together.

Growing up, my family owned a bustling travel agency in the Prairies. I have a love of travel honestly and recognize that the ability to travel the world has been an extraordinary gift.

My travel career started at age 16 as a part-time luggage handler for Air BC. Then, after studying travel and tourism at college, I spent 3 years as a travel consultant. Wanting to travel more, I became a BDM with RBC Travel Insurance and later sailed on to a Royal Caribbean Sales Manager position. The lure of travel insurance carried me back to Manulife 8 years ago.

There are many, but one stands out! Years ago, after presenting at an event with many attendees, I caught my pants on the corner of a desk and ripped a big hole in the side of my suit pants. Thank goodness the rip was on the outside of the pant leg.

I am a huge fan of cruising. I’ve been to some amazing destinations and stayed at some incredible hotels, but my dream vacation would be a world cruise that allowed for a multitude of activities. I love the idea of unpacking once yet exploring many interesting places around the world.

My cottage! We have a small summer cottage that my family loves to spend time at. We love boating, fishing, kayaking and being outside. Our little slice of heaven on earth, and a life saver during the pandemic.

When I’m not working, I like to be active and outside. As a hockey fan, I coach my son’s Atom hockey team and I personally play 1 to 2 times a week. During the summer, I love being at the cottage and appreciate the spoils of lake life such as golf and campfire guitar nights.

My first time in Las Vegas I had beginner’s luck and I won a lot of money playing Craps, which I barely knew how to play. With my winnings, I treated my party to a night out. We ended up at a private event hosted by many A level celebrities and I met some very famous people that night. My luck has never been the same since.

Underwritten by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company (Manulife) and First North American Insurance Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Manulife. Manulife, Manulife & Stylized M Design, and the Styled M Design are trademarks of Manulife and are used by it, and by its affiliates under license. © 2022 The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company. All rights reserved.