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The average travel insurance premium dropped last year as travelers insured less-expensive trips, according to travel insurer Generali Global Assistance.
On Wednesday, Generali released its findings on travel and insurance trends for 2017. It found that the average cost of a trip that travelers insured was $1,883 – a 19% drop from 2016. As a result, the average travel insurance premium saw a corresponding drop, landing at $139 per trip for the 2017 travel season. The average number of people on each plan held steady at 1.75, while the average number of days between trip purchase and departure dropped from 88 in 2016 to 81 last year.
“As travel insurance and its myriad benefits become better understood, people are choosing to insure trips at a lower price point than they did in the past,” Generali Global Assistance CEO Chris Carnicelli said. “This is encouraging to see as we, and the industry at large, have placed greater emphasis on transparency to clear up misconceptions that surround travel insurance.”
Insured cruise trips decreased by 13% year over year, while insured air trips spiked 27%. The top destinations for travelers were:
“This past year was seemingly dominated by natural disasters, and man-made events like the Outer Banks power outage (in North Carolina) that disrupted travel,” Carnicelli said. “On average we saw claims on medical, evacuation and repatriation services rise by 78% last year compared to 2016. As these types of events continue to become more commonplace, travelers will continue to show more interest in protecting their trip investments.”
