Thailand — the beautiful Land of Smiles — is one of the most popular tourist destinations worldwide, with 35.5 million visitors predicted in 2024. Like many countries, Thailand ended its COVID-19 era requirement for international tourists to purchase travel insurance with emergency medical coverage last year, but travel insurance is still essential for your next trip to Thailand.

Most U.S. domestic health insurance policies won’t fully cover you abroad. And the U.S. Department of State advises travelers to Thailand to, “Be aware that U.S. Medicare/Medicaid does not apply overseas. Most hospitals and doctors overseas do not accept U.S. health insurance. …  Most care providers overseas only accept cash payments.”

You may be wondering how travel insurance can help if most healthcare services require cash payment. Travel insurance with emergency medical benefits can either reimburse covered costs for emergency care, or provide an accepted guarantee of payments to your medical provider in Thailand.

Emergency medical benefits included in certain Allianz Travel Insurance plans also include 24-hour assistance services via its hotline or the Allyz® TravelSmart app. You’ll be connected with an expert who can arrange your care and provide you with an interpreter. We’ll notify your family, and continually monitor the care you receive.

Travel insurance can also protect the money you’ve invested in your travel plans. Trip cancellation benefits can reimburse certain non-refundable expenses if your trip is postponed, delayed or interrupted for a covered reason. Certain Allianz Travel Insurance plans also offer benefits for baggage loss, theft and damage — see your plan details for full information.

Here’s more on how travel insurance can help.

Medical emergencies

Let’s say you’re hiking along the lush, jungle-covered banks of Cheow Larn Lake in Khao Sok National Park. For a moment, you pay more attention to the incredible limestone pillars rising above the lake’s emerald waters than where you’re stepping. It’s just long enough for you to trip over a giant tree root and twist your ankle. Your hiking companion helps you hobble off of the trail to the main parking lot where you were dropped off by bus that morning.

You call your Allianz Travel Insurance plan’s 24-hour assistance hotline and ask an agent to assist you in obtaining emergency transportation to take you to the nearest hospital in Surat Thani. At the emergency room, you’re told you must pay in cash. You call your agent back, and he is able to help with advance payment, taking a huge weight off of your shoulders.

Baggage protection

You plan to get some amazing drone shots of Thailand’s legendary beaches. You’ve taken the time to register your drone with the Thai government, and you decide to pack the drone as checked luggage. You’ve also checked Federal Aviation Administration regulations on traveling with lithium batteries. And you’re feeling confident the drone’s case, with the help of bubble wrap, will keep the device safe. But after a long wait at the baggage claim at Don Mueang International Airport in Thailand, you realize that your drone hasn’t arrived.

Airlines locate an estimated 97% of lost bags, but more than three weeks into your trip, your expensive drone hasn’t been found. It’s clear you’re in the unlucky minority. Airlines are required to reimburse for lost baggage, but if you don’t receive the full value of your item, if you have an Allianz Travel Insurance plan with baggage benefits, your travel insurance plan can help (note that high-value sublimits may apply).

Trip cancellation

On average, typhoons occur ten times a year in Thailand. Avoid losing money due to bad weather derailing your plans by purchasing travel insurance with trip cancellation benefits, as soon as you book your trip.

Travel insurance can protect you in the case of reasonably unforeseeable events. Once a typhoon or other weather event is forecasted, the event is considered foreseeable. If your policy was purchased after the storm was forecasted, you won’t be compensated for financial losses due to the storm. That’s why it’s imperative to purchase travel insurance immediately if you’re headed to a typhoon-prone region in season, to ensure your trip falls within the coverage window.

Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption benefits included in certain Allianz Travel Insurance plans may protect you from financial losses in the event your trip is canceled, delayed or interrupted due to a typhoon or other extreme weather event.

Let’s say you booked a flight to Thailand and a cabin on Railay Beach for two weeks of boating and laying in the sun with your family. But your preschooler gets sick with the flu and his doctor recommends that he stay home. You’re going to have to cancel the trip to care for your little one. Your Trip Cancellation benefits could reimburse your non-refundable expenses, so you can postpone your trip for another time.

Get a quote to find out how Allianz Travel Insurance can help make your adventure in Thailand blissfully stress-free.

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