ESSENTIAL READING FOR TRAVEL & HEALTH INSURANCE PROFESSIONALS
DECEMBER 2019 • ISSUE 227
International Travel & Health Insurance Journal
NEWS ANALYSIS P.10 RISK FACTORS Avoiding the wrong place at the wrong time
FEATURE P.30 INSURANCE AND CHILL The growth of subscription services
SERVICE DIRECTORY P.37 Your essential guide to suppliers for the global travel and health insurance industry
Happy new year for travel insurers? Pointing the way The ‘insurance signposting’ agreement in the UK has been deemed a success after data from the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) revealed that more than 700,000 cover enquiries have been made since the agreement passed Made between the UK Government, BIBA and the Association of British Insurers (ABI), the new signposting agreement basically ensures that, should an insurer or broker be unable to offer an older customer motor or travel cover due to any upper age limits in place, the insurer or broker shall automatically refer the customer in question to an alternative provider that is able to meet their needs, or else to a dedicated signposting service. BIBA’s Executive Director Graeme Trudgill believes that the 700,000 figure emphasises the agreement’s success. “We are committed to expanding the ease with which customers with many and varied needs can access suitable insurance,” he said. “We are sure, because we have seen many hundreds of thousands of enquiries from older people seeking insurance where other providers could not assist because of their age, that a signposting system does work
It seems that travellers are finally wising up to the importance of travel insurance, with a spike in travel insurance purchases anticipated in 2020 – and it’s about time too! This is according to the findings of Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection (BHTP)’s fifth annual State of Travel Insurance survey. It was conducted in August 2019 and includes responses from 7,292 travellers. A key finding was that 23 per cent of travellers intend to buy travel insurance more frequently in 2020 than they did in 2019. This might not sound like a high percentage, but intent to purchase was far lower last year, at 14 per cent.
And when we look at the millennial demographic, the findings are even more encouraging: 71 per cent of millennials said that they plan to buy more travel insurance next year. So why are travellers becoming keener to make travel insurance a necessity? Millennials believe travel insurance can save them time and money when travel doesn’t quite go as planned; and they’d be right! They said that they are most afraid of epidemics and terrorism while travelling (46 per cent), while 69 per cent said that they plan on doing something dangerous so they can post a picture on social media – not quite the reasoning one would have hoped, but if they plan to do this regardless, having travel insurance is infinitely
better than not! “It says a lot about millennials who by and large indicated an appetite to take risks while travelling, yet are showing they are savvy enough to protect themselves with travel insurance,” said Dean Sivley, President of BHTP. The survey also found that millennials are spending a lot of money on travel, particularly millennials with kids. Indeed, 85 per cent of millennials with children spent more than US$5,000 on travel in 2019, while almost 58 per cent of millennials with children spend more than $10,000. Further survey findings include that travellers see ride share services such as Uber as less
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