The cobbled streets, gothic cathedrals and scenic Alps of Europe are seeing an increasing footfall from Indian tourists. A recent report by Policybazaar, an online insurance marketplace, finds that Schengen travel from India has surged by around 19 per cent in the first three months of 2025 as compared to last year.
Not just that, the data shows an interesting trend - more Indian women are preferring to travel solo, planning their international trips independently and taking insurance coverage just as seriously as the extensive itineraries.
The growing insurance awareness is more visible with travellers choosing to hop on add-ons like trip cancellation, flight delay compensations and emergency medical assistance as some of the standard picks.
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Around 60 to 80 per cent of European travel insurance purchases occur between February and April, with March and April being the busiest months. This is mostly due to spring and summer travel planning.
Let’s look in detail at how Indians are choosing to travel, taking adequate insurance along with their backpacks.
Where is everyone heading in Europe?
The data shows that Germany has topped the list of most visited countries in Europe, seeing a footfall of around 20 per cent of Indian Schengen travellers. Among the top five is France at around 17.57 per cent, followed by Switzerland (at 10.67 per cent), the Netherlands (9.37 per cent), and Italy (7.78 per cent).
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Where countries like Germany typically draw business travellers, others like Switzerland and the Netherlands attract the adventure enthusiasts given by how adventure sports add-ons find a common place in their travel insurance.
High Coverage Plans: The New Norm
The data shows a big shift in how Indian tourists are thinking about travel insurance, the cue is a growing preference for higher covers.
Forget about typical $100,000 standard covers, now around 62 per cent of buyers are going for policies with $250,000 coverage or more.
Since healthcare in Europe is notoriously expensive, travellers are no longer taking risks of low covers. The senior travellers choose for even higher covers, with many opting for $500,000+ coverage plans that not only cover medical emergencies but pre-existing diseases (PEDs) as well.
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The insurance choices are not limited to just healthcare needs, travellers are also taking a cover against long-haul flights, increasing instances of flight delays, and an uptick in visa rejections.
For instance, India saw a 15.7 per cent rejection rate for Schengen visas in 2023, this could roughly translate to more than 1.5 lakh denied applications and a collective loss of around Rs 109 crore in non-refundable visa fees. It is no surprise then that one in five travellers are choosing to take the ‘Visa Fee Refund’ rider when buying insurance for their trips to Europe.
Young Travelers Are Catching Up!
There’s another shift happening, the Indian travellers are choosing to buy travel insurance early, with 76 per cent locking in their policies 45-50 days before their departure. This must do a lot with the visa application timeline but with an increasing awareness about travel disruptions and sudden medical risks.
Moreover, around half of all Schengen travel insurance buyers fall under the Millennials and Gen X age bracket.
What are their motivations?
For Gen X, their family or business seems to be the travel focus often leading up to high coverage and full featured plans.
Millennials, on the other hand, seem to prefer fast, digital-first options that come with easy claim processing
Gen Z are also slowly catching up with their ‘budget conscious approach’. As per the report, they are also smart about picking riders like ‘gadget protection’.
Baby Boomers, who constitute a small fraction, are choosing for the most premium option available for them and often lock in comprehensive medical and evacuation coverage.
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Experts are calling this a ‘Mindset Shift’
According to Meet Kapadia, head of travel insurance at PolicyBazaar, this is not some temporary bump in India’s insurance market.
He says, “We’re seeing a clear shift in mindset - travel insurance is no longer viewed as a formality, but as an essential part of trip planning. The 18.95 per cent growth in Q1 is largely fuelled by increased awareness of rising incidents of travel disruptions, and a heightened focus on medical protection abroad.”
Kapadia also pointed towards the role women travellers are playing in this trend. He notes that they are leading this change with a 19 per cent uptick, opting for more comprehensive plans and essential add-ons like visa fee refund and trip cancellation coverage.
Indian travellers are stamping up foreign destinations on their passports more and more, but wisely. With the right insurance coverage, they are securing their journeys and locking in good add-ons to ride through any travel bumps.
