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MAY 2017 • ISSUE 196
High-impact events drive demand Extreme weather events, disease outbreaks and socio-political volatility are the top emerging risks for local travellers over the next 12 months, according to AIG Singapore
Claims data from the company reveals that highimpact incidents such as those noted above are becoming more common than they were three years ago. Since 2014, AIG Singapore has noted an 85-per-cent increase in travel claims made for such incidents, with natural disasters being the costliest, with an average claim amount of S$2,610. The insurer has predicted that these trends will continue throughout 2017, resulting in a 10-per-cent rise in demand for premium travel products offering a greater amount of cover. AIG Singapore’s vice-president and head of group personal insurance Ignatius Chng commented: “As Singaporeans continue to be savvy and frequent travellers, their global mobility and increased awareness of travel insurance will see them taking a proactive approach and insuring themselves against unforeseen circumstances.” Chng went on to say that with natural disasters on the rise due to the onset of global warming, as well as more rapid disease outbreaks, such as the Zika virus epidemic in 2016, such issues have detrimental effects on travellers – from delayed flights and high medical expenses, to travellers
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Pain from claims in Spain More British holidaymakers are choosing Spain for their city breaks, long weekends in the sunshine and annual two-week getaways. Inevitably, this means more related claims for travel insurers to deal with Analysis from UK-based Direct Line Travel Insurance reveals that of the 600,000-plus travel insurance claims made by British holidaymakers in 2016, almost a quarter (150,000) were claims for holidays in Spain. Taken over the course of the year, this is over 400 individual claims every day and almost three times more than the US and France,
totalling over £75 million. Further analysis shows that one in eight (12 per cent) of the claims made in 2016 exceeded £1,000. Tom Bishop, head of travel insurance at Direct Line, commented: “It is not surprising to see tourist hotspots such as Spain, the US, France and Greece appearing as the most popular destinations, and shows that holidaymakers are just as likely to fall unwell, lose baggage or need to cancel their holiday whether they are hopping over the pond or just crossing the Channel.” Year-on-year, the number of travel insurance claims rose by more than 22,000 (four per cent), with exotic destinations such as Western
Africa (a 29-per-cent increase) and the Caribbean (a 15-per-cent increase) both seeing a significant increase in claims volume, while North Africa and Central Africa saw the most significant fall in claim volumes, with 74-percent and 24-per-cent decreases respectively. The most common reason for making a travel insurance claim in 2016 was cancellation, accounting for nearly 40 per cent of claims. This was followed by outpatient medical incidents (25 per cent) and accidental loss of baggage (seven per cent). Delays, either by airlines or by
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