Younger travellers aged 25-44 have reported the greatest increase in travel insurance purchase for the second year running, according to American insurance company Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection’s recent State of Travel Insurance report.
According to the report, 33% of Millennials with children intend to purchase more travel insurance in 2019.
Travel Insurance For Pre-Existing Medical Conditions
Meanwhile 29% of travellers aged 55 to 74 said they plan to buy less travel insurance in 2019. This could be related to the difficulty in getting travel insurance that covers pre-existing medical conditions while cheap flights and easy access to travel insurance online means younger people have more opportunities to protect themselves when travelling.
“Now in our fourth year of conducting the State of Travel Insurance research, we are seeing a trend that not just Millennials, but more specifically Millennials with children are showing the most notable increase in travel insurance purchase intent,” said Dean Sivley, President of BHTP. “Millennials with children are also reporting that they travel to the most places and have indicated they are doing so even if risk, real or perceived, is involved.”
Millennials with children are most concerned about threats that could impact their family, with 47% of this segment citing disease outbreaks as a travel fear, compared with 38% of Millennials without children.
Travel Insurance with Gadget Cover
Younger travellers find customisation options and technology-driven user experiences as important considerations with 43% of younger travellers indicating that they would buy more travel insurance if they were able to customise their cover compared to 21% of older travellers. At Emerald we offer gadget cover as an optional extra that means customers can insure their phones, laptops and other personal electronics at low cost. We also provide other travel insurance optional extras like winter sports cover and cruise insurance.
Making Travel Insurance Simpler
Some 38% of younger travellers wish their travel insurance was more technologically advanced. We try to meet this need through a smooth user experience that makes buying travel insurance quick and easy whether on a desktop, phone or tablet. Recent years have seen the rise of ‘insuretech’ designed to make buying insurance as cheap and simple as possible.
The report also concluded that younger travellers are much more likely than older travellers to be mindful of travel issues like climate change and vanishing destinations. As an ethical company, Emerald’s focus remains on diversity and inclusion as the first insurance company to cover HIV at no extra cost, providing customers are stable and undetectable. We also provide on-the-ground consular care so that vulnerable customers can get the support they need abroad and stay safe.
