Survey Reveals Sharp Spike in Travelers Intending to Buy More Travel Insurance in 2020

Business Wire

Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection Projects Millennials Will Continue to Drive the Market

STEVENS POINT, Wis.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection (BHTP) revealed today the findings of its fifth annual State of Travel Insurance survey of travelers. Among the key findings, 23% of travelers said they are going to buy travel insurance more frequently in 2020 than they did in 2019. This is a considerable jump in intent to purchase, as last year’s survey had shown only a 14% year over year increase. The numbers jump much higher when looking at Millennials, with 71% of them saying they plan to buy more travel insurance next year. Respondents across the board who say they plan to buy more travel insurance cite traditional reasons such as trip cost, family health and cancellation fears.

The survey of 7,292 travelers, conducted in August of 2019, revealed several other surprising insights about travelers’ intentions. Millennials are attracted to travel insurance because they feel it can save them time and money when travel doesn’t quite go as planned, and 46% say they are most afraid of epidemics and terrorism while traveling. Additionally, a whopping 69% of all survey respondents said they plan on doing something dangerous so they can post a picture on social media.

“While the past several years of our research has uncovered that Millennials continue to show steady increases in their intentions to purchase travel insurance, what surprised us this year is 64% stated travel scares them a little,” said Dean Sivley, president of Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection. “It says a lot about Millennials who by and large indicated an appetite to take risks while traveling yet are showing they are savvy enough to protect themselves with travel insurance.”

Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection’s State of Travel Insurance research is also projecting Millennials slightly slowing down their travel frequency, and mature travelers sticking close to home once again. However, when choosing to travel, Millennials are spending large amounts of money. The vast majority of Millennials with children, 85%, said they spent more than $5,000 on travel in 2019. Additionally, almost 58% of Millennials with children said they spent more than $10,000 on travel in 2019.

Other key findings from the State of Travel Insurance survey include:

Ride share services like Uber are perceived less safe than walking, bicycling, taking a bus or other forms of mass transit. Trains are cited as the safest travel mode.
Respondents consider international terrorism to be their top threat to travel, followed by disease outbreaks and safety concerns at their destination.
Frequent travel insurance buyers continue to say that they are looking for a more tech-driven, customizable travel insurance experience. Younger travelers are also much more likely to visit comparison sites and aggregators and rely on online reviews when buying travel insurance.
Millennials are ten times more likely than mature travelers to be concerned about problems they may encounter traveling with their pet.
Italy, France, and Japan lead in terms of countries perceived to be the safest for travel along with “safe exotic” popular destinations like Australia and New Zealand.

BHTP’s State of Travel Insurance research has been conducted each fall since 2015 using independent national panels surveying thousands of consumers on future expectations in travel insurance and travel habits. The survey provides insights on not only travel insurance purchase trends, but also 2020 travel expectations. For a full report, please email the contact below.

About the State of Travel Insurance

The State of Travel Insurance includes responses from 7,292 travelers about their travel habits, their travel business, their experiences in 2019 and/or their expectations for 2020. The high level of confidence for the survey (+1.51) is sufficient enough to draw large-scale conclusions from the results.

The survey research for the study was conducted by Polymath Research + Marketing. Sources consulted in preparing this report included Department of Commerce data augmented by travel-trend reports from the Global Business Travel Association, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, AARP, IATA, Cruise Lines International Association, BCD Travel, Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, cruisemarketwatch.com and MMGY Global’s Portrait of American Travelers™. Data from these sources were used to create detailed models of trip costs to various regions, to extrapolate out the Commerce Department statistics, and to make projections on percentage of covered trips, traveler ages, and travel insurance cost as a percentage of trip cost. These projections were used to calculate total 2020 travel insurance sales, and then those figures were compared against last year’s figures to chart percentage change.

About Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection

Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection (BHTP) is a registered trademark and a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company, a leader in specialized casualty and liability insurance. Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company provides underwriting and claims administration services for some of the largest distributors of travel insurance in the United States. Created under the Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection trade name is the ExactCare® line of travel insurance, AirCare® flight, WaveCare®, AdrenalineCare® and other travel-related protections. The AirCare® and ExactCare® products are provided by Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company. Visit bhtp.com for more information.

About Polymath Research + Marketing

Polymath Research + Marketing is a full-service market-research and marketing agency that specializes in crafting custom research and content to help organizations reach their business and marketing goals. PRM currently services firms in the insurance, travel, sports, and manufacturing industries, and provides research and content support to several top agencies. To learn more visit www.polymathpower.com.