NEWS ANALYSIS:
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ITIC REVIEW:
Adapt or perish
Santo Domingo
Climate change is here – how are travel insurers responding?
A full run-down of the action at the recent ITIC Americas conference
ESSENTIAL READING FOR TRAVEL & HEALTH INSURANCE PROFESSIONALS
Travel insurance popular in China Chinese travellers are purchasing travel insurance at higher rates than ever before, according to a new report from China-based online travel agency Ctrip International
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MARCH 2019 • ISSUE 218
Passport woes for Brits The study found that a staggering 1.4 million travellers from the UK have managed to forget crucial documentation like passports before they leave for the airport – and 64 per cent of Brits admitted that they would be more likely to check the weather in their holiday destination
Making sure you have all of your travel documents in place, and with you when you leave the house, is as important as having good quality travel insurance in place
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ABI warns against no-deal Brexit The ABI has hardly been reticient when it comes to warning of the dangers of a potential no-deal scenario, but this intervention at its annual dinner was the organisation’s harshest warning yet, with Evans describing a no-deal Brexit as ‘an unforgivable act of economic and social self-harm that the UK would live to regret’. He called upon the UK Government to do everything in its power to avoid
SERVICE DIRECTORY
British holidaymakers seem to be having difficulty remembering their essential travel documents, according to new research from Sainsbury’s Bank Travel Insurance
The number of Chinese holidaymakers buying travel cover for their outbound trips grew by 20 per cent in 2018 compared with the year before, a trend largely driven by an increasing number of seniors heading off on trips, a wider variety of exotic locations on offer for holidays, and ever-more expensive gadgets needing to be packed – and therefore protected. Ctrip also found that when it came to travel insurance payouts for Chinese travellers in 2018, 46 per cent were for compensation for changes to travel schedules, 35 per cent were for travel delays and 15 per cent were to cover the cost of medical care. In terms of local destinations, Guangzhou (Guangdong province), Xiamen (Fujian province) and the Hainan province in China were worst for flight delays, while for overseas destinations, Indonesia, the Maldives and the Philippines were the worst. “Tropical islands usually face frequent flight delays, as they are easily impacted by typhoons and rainstorms, and some chartered flights on islands often change schedules,” explained Huang Qing, Ctrip’s Director of travel insurance business. “Also, flying from China to some further overseas destinations, such as the US, often requires transferring flights. Schedule changes
In a major speech, Huw Evans, DirectorGeneral of the Association of British Insurers (ABI), warned that a no-deal Brexit would be catastrophic
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this outcome, even delaying if necessary: “As a last resort, if the only alternative to no deal is some form of short delay to Brexit, then delay we should.” One major issue that Evans pointed to is the fact that in any hypothetical future arrangement in which the UK was forced to comply with rules that it had no say in, these rules could be ‘weaponised by those in the EU that want to damage the UK’. This could potentially result in, for example, UK insurers having to hold a great deal more capital than they actually need. As well as damaging competitiveness, Evans warned, this would reduce investment in the UK economy and result
in people getting less from their pensions. “As an industry,” said Evans, “we have done everything possible to prepare for no deal, including transferring an estimated 29 million insurance contracts and the establishment of nearly 40 EU subsidiaries and branches to minimise disruption to customers. But we still believe very strongly that a conscious descision to opt for no deal would be an act of economic recklessness our great country would live to regret.” One ongoing bugbear of the Brexit confusion is
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in the week leading up to their departure than they would be to check their passports. Compounding the image of Brits as a particularly hapless travelling demographic, Sainsbury’s also found that 2.7 million people have managed to miss their flights at the beginning of their holiday, and 2.3 million go away without taking out travel insurance. “Holidays should mean a break from the stress of everyday life,” said Karen Hogg, Head of Insurance at Sainsbury’s Bank. “Making sure you have all of your travel documents in place, and with you when you leave the house, is as important as having good quality travel insurance in place. It’s worth noting
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