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Younger
Travelers Are More Safety Conscious Than Ever
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Berkshire
Hathaway Travel Protection’s 2019 State of Travel Insurance
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research reveals the generational
gap in travel insurance
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buying patterns and general travel
preferences
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Stevens
Point, WI – November 2018 / Newsmaker Alert / According
to Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection’s
(BHTP) annual State of Travel Insurance research report released
today, younger travelers (ages 25 to 44) have reported the greatest increase
in travel insurance buying intent for the second year in a row, and subsequently
indicate they are very safety conscious. The report stated that 33 percent
of Millennials with children said they plan to purchase more travel insurance
in 2019; for Boomers, 29 percent of travelers ages 55 to 74 said they plan
to buy less travel insurance in 2019.
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“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 Berkshire Hathaway Travel
Protection. “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.”
Berkshire
Hathaway Travel Protection’s State of Travel Insurance research
is the only one of its kind that takes an in-depth look at not only travel
insurance buying patterns and preferences among multiple travel demographics,
but also the influence of risk, perceived or real, in preferred travel
destinations.
Travelers’
safety concerns play a large role in the destinations they are choosing
and their likelihood to purchase travel insurance. Millennials with children,
the segment that travels the most, are most concerned about threats that
could impact their family, such as disease outbreaks (47 percent of Millennials
with children cite this as a travel fear compared to 38 percent of Millennials
without children). While both younger and older travelers perceive destination
safety and terrorism as major concerns, 41 percent of younger travelers
see global politics as a major travel threat, while only 12 percent of
older travelers do.
Other
interesting points from the research include:
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Younger
travelers cite tech-driven and customizable travel insurance as most important.
43 percent of younger travelers said they would buy more travel insurance
if they were able to customize their travel insurance compared to 21 percent
of older travelers.
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38 percent
of younger travelers said they wish their travel insurance was as technologically
advanced as the rest of their travel experience, compared to 16 percent
of older travelers.
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Older
respondents, historically the largest travel insurance buying segment,
are twice as likely as Millennials to say they plan to buy less travel
insurance in 2019 compared to 2018.
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Travelers
consider Ireland to be the safest destination, and Colombia the least safe.
Interestingly, three hurricane-ravaged destinations – the U.S. and British
Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico – made the top 25 safest destinations.
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Adventure
travel continues to be one of the most popular and fastest-growing travel
types. River cruises – where there is a strong likelihood of repeat business
– have made inroads among younger travelers, as almost twice as many Millennials
take river cruises compared to all travelers.
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Younger
travelers are much more likely than older travelers to be mindful of travel
issues, with Millennials pointing to long-term concerns such as climate
change and vanishing destinations.
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
2019 travel expectations. BHTP’s State of Travel Insurance 2019
is available for download at www.BHTP.com/soti-report.
About
the State of Travel Insurance
The
State of Travel Insurance includes responses from 2,617 travelers
and 800 travel professionals about their travel habits, their travel business,
their experiences in 2018 and/or their expectations for 2019. While the
confidence level is considerably greater for the consumer survey (±2.52%)
than the travel-professionals survey (±4.52%), the confidence levels
in both surveys are sufficient 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 2019 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 is the trade name for the travel protection
products and services of Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company,
part of the National Indemnity group of insurance companies. 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
and other travel-related protections. The AirCare® and ExactCare®
products are provided by Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company
or National Liability & Fire 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.
Media
Contact:
Carol
Mueller, Vice President
Berkshire
Hathaway Travel Protection |