Australians keen to travel more but…
Travel trends: Many travellers holding back over concerns something may befall them while overseas
A new survey shows while a high number of Australians are planning overseas trips, many are holding back from travelling concerned about the support they would receive from the Australian Government if something was to happen to them.
Alarmingly, the survey, a collaboration between the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) and the Australian Government’s Smartraveller, also showed a significant number of under-30s actively reject travel insurance and are throwing caution to the wind, planning to leave Australia without the protections afforded by appropriate cover.
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ICA CEO, Andrew Hall said after two years of lockdowns with no international travel means many Australians are planning to head overseas in coming months.
“Accidents and emergencies can happen anywhere, meaning travel insurance remains a vital protection,” he said.
“You couldn’t travel overseas without your passport, and you shouldn’t travel overseas without travel insurance, no matter the destination.”
The key takeaways from the survey include:
Pent-up demand
70 percent of all respondents and 78 per cent of under-30s say they are planning to travel more often in future in response to being unable to travel during 2020 and 2021.
Travellers are cautious
Two thirds (68 percent) say the pandemic has made them feel less confident to travel overseas and nine in ten (86 percent) say they’ll be more cautious about travelling to places where it could prove harder to get back to Australia in a crisis.
COVID cover
95 percent say that cancellation cover for claims relating to Covid-19 will be an important consideration when they come to purchase travel insurance.
Expectations of consular help
More than two thirds (68 percent) think that if an Australian has a medical emergency overseas, a representative will ensure they get the medical treatment they need. Fifty percent believe that if an Australian has a medical emergency overseas the Australian Government will arrange and fund repatriation.
Risky under-30s
12 percent of under-30s are ‘active rejectors’ of travel insurance who consciously plan to travel without insurance, in comparison to 3 percent of those aged over 30. The most common reason given for this is being unsure that travel insurance is needed.
In addition to meeting COVID-related customer expectations, travel insurers are developing a range of additional benefits to further assist customers.
These include mobile access to real-time safety alerts based on location and risk and ‘on-the-go’ purchase of cover for some higher risk activities.
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