Allianz Global Assistance Launches “Scholartrips” CONTEST Partnering with travel agencies

Hoping to Bridge the Gap for Students Wanting to Travel Abroad

Richmond, VA, October 18, 2013 — Roughly 72% of Americans believe that study abroad programs are critical to a students’ development and to improving global relations but only 12% participate in programs mostly due to a lack of financial resources, according to a recent survey by Allianz Global Assistance USA+.

To address this gap, Allianz Global Assistance created “ScholarTrips,” to provide funding to students who want to study abroad, but lack the financial resources to travel. The ScholarTrips Contest encourages global exchanges and so far has awarded over $65,000 in travel scholarships.  As a way to provide both more opportunities for students and create a valuable community involvement program for travel agents, Allianz decided to partner with travel agents to get the word out to students aged 14 – 21 about how they can win one of ten $1,500 scholarships they can use to participate in volunteer and study abroad programs.*

“We believe that we can help bridge the gap between those who want to participate in volunteer and study abroad programs and those who can afford it by hosting a national contest to provide scholarships.” said Alan Josephs, chief marketing officer of Allianz Global Assistance USA.

“We’re pleased to be partnering with travel agents across the USA to provide students in their community with an opportunity to enrich their education through study or volunteer programs.” said Brad Gray, director of retail channel management at Allianz Global Assistance USA.

Travel agencies who wish to promote the contest in their community can access a Travel Agent Toolkit on the website www.ScholarTripsContest.com. Here they will find contest rules, a calendar of dates and promotional materials. Once students in their community submit a video, they are encouraged to promote it through social media for votes.

The ScholarTrips Contest will run October 14th through November 15th. To participate, students will record and edit a 60-90 second video answering the question “What do you expect to learn from your experience traveling abroad or volunteering away from home?”  The top 30 videos with the most votes will move to the finalists round where travel experts will decide on the ten winners.  

+Methodology: These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted June 6 to 10, 2013.  For the survey, a nationally representative sample of 1,000 randomly-selected adults residing in the U.S. interviewed by telephone via Ipsos’ U.S. Telephone Express omnibus.  With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate within ±3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire population of adults in the U.S. been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/gender composition reflects that of the actual U.S. population according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

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* - Allianz ScholarTrips Contest. NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCE OF WINNING. Entry starts on 10/14/13 at 12:00:01 a.m. CT and ends on 11/15/13 at 11:59:59 p.m. CT. Open to legal residents of the 50 United States. and D.C. who are between the ages of 14 and 21 and are students at a state-accredited high school or trade school, or an accredited university or college at time of entry.  For complete Official Rules go online to www.scholartripscontest.com. Void where prohibited. Sponsor: Allianz Global Assistance, 9950 Mayland Dr., Richmond, VA  23233.

Allianz Global Assistance USA

Allianz Global Assistance USA (AGA Service Company) is a leading consumer specialty insurance and assistance company.  We insure 13 million customers annually and are best known for our Allianz Travel Insurance plans. In addition to travel insurance, Allianz Global Assistance USA offers event ticket protection, registration protection for endurance events and unique travel assistance services such as international medical assistance and concierge services. The company also serves as an outsource provider for in-bound call center services and claims administration for health insurers, property and casualty insurers, and credit card companies.

For more information about Allianz Global Assistance USA, please visit allianzassistance.com. To learn more about Allianz Travel Insurance plans, please visit allianztravelinsurance.com or Like us on Facebook at Facebook.com/AllianzTravelInsuranceUS.

Allianz Global Assistance

How can we help?

Allianz Global Assistance is an international leader in assistance, travel insurance and health, life & home care services, with operation centers in 34 countries. The company has more than 12,000 employees who speak 40 different languages and work throughout the world with a network of 400,000 service providers and 118 correspondents covering 150 countries.

Allianz

Allianz is the 25th largest company in the world (Forbes Global 2012) and 63rd most valuable global brand (Interbrand, 2013). Allianz has 144,000 employees worldwide and 78 million customers in more than 70 countries. In 2012, Allianz had over 106.3 billion euros in revenue and over 1.4 billion euros under management.  In addition to Allianz Global Assistance, Allianz brands in the US include:

Allianz Life

Allianz Global Investors

PIMCO

Fireman’s Fund

Euler Hermes

Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty

Media Contact: Daniel Durazo

804.673.7175

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