World Travel Protection Wins Top Honour At 2022 FEM APAC EMMA Awards ^Featured

Leading travel risk management company World Travel Protection (WTP) has been recognised as the ‘International Health, Wellbeing or Security Management Provider of the Year’ at the annual Forum for Expatriate Management (FEM) APAC EMMA Awards recently held in Singapore on September 8.

The awards’ judges commended the outstanding global travel and risk management provider’s solution for ensuring the safety of employees all over the world.

“[It’s] good to see a company able to overcome the hurdles in implementation and forging great partnerships,” the judges noted. “World Travel Protection has shown real agility.”

The 2022 FEM APAC EMMAs ceremony was judged by an independent panel of industry experts following a successful one-day summit

The 2022 FEM APAC EMMAs ceremony was judged by an independent panel of industry experts following a successful one-day summit

“WTP is coming out of the pandemic stronger than ever due to its dedication to clients and investment in services with backing from Zurich and the Cover-More Group, making it a truly innovative travel assistance provider.

“We have improved our intelligence and technology capabilities,” Mr Leach says. “Our security team’s 24/7 global monitoring is supported by artificial intelligence and analysed by security teams to provide accurate and reliable information, which was especially crucial during the everchanging rules and regulations during the height of the pandemic.

“Since the Omicron wave in December 2021, our 24/7 Brisbane Command Centre has supported over 4,200 cases and travellers impacted by the pandemic,” Mr Leach says.

Over recent years, WTP has implemented key innovations throughout the business. The first was Atlas, a unique and bespoke case management system, built in partnership with Salesforce to provide round the clock care to travellers and clients at home and throughout the world. The launch of Atlas last year modernised WTP’s capturable data and the assistance provided to its customers. The technology has enabled WTP to report on frequency of assistance cases as well as the illnesses and injuries that occurred in different locations.

Then, in February 2022, WTP relaunched Travel Assist, its portal and app technology, to ensure organisations are equipped with the ability to educate, locate and communicate with their travelling staff no matter where they are in the world. This revolutionary technology assists in keeping expatriates safe across the globe.

Be it a natural disaster or political assassination in Haiti, protests and roadblocks in Sri Lanka or a spike in cholera cases in Thailand, Travel Assist can quickly identify where travellers are and communication with them via their email, phone or the application.

Mr Leach says these extraordinary advancements were made while WTP’s medical, security and logistics teams continued to support the organisations that travelled during the pandemic and despite the significant increase in complexity for support should an incident have occurred.

“Because of the team’s ability to adapt, improve and implement new capabilities, WTP has been able to provide the best-in-class support for our clients and their travellers.”

Millions of travellers place their trust in WTP each year for varied assistance across 200 countries. Emergency assistance can include medical evacuation, repatriation and mental health support.

In 2020, WTP completed the build of its new Brisbane Command Centre, bringing together a team of expert medical, security, logistical and case management personnel, designed to best support customers through every step of their journey. WTP has three Command Centres in Brisbane, London and Toronto, and Supporting Centres in Kuala Lumpur, as well as in Argentina through its sister company Universal Assistance.

About World Travel Protection

For 30 years, World Travel Protection has taken care of corporate and leisure travellers across the globe by providing access to 24-hour emergency assistance. In addition to support services for medical, travel, and security emergencies, WTP – part of the Zurich Insurance Group – educates and trains businesses to mitigate exposure to inherent risks associated with travelling abroad. Emergency assistance encompasses medical case management, evacuation and repatriation together with providing access to virtual care services (telehealth) and security intelligence. A key foundational component of a leading assistance provider is its global network. WTP’s GlobalCare Network ensures customers have access to over 20,000 providers worldwide. Millions of travellers place their trust in WTP each year for assistance across 200 countries.