More see insurance as key

AN INCREASING number of Australians view international travel insurance as a “necessity” according to the latest edition of the annual SureSave Travel Insurance Index.

The 2018 poll, which surveyed 1,000 respondents in Australia about travel insurance, found 73% of people “wouldn’t leave the country without it” - a 10 point increase from the situation six years ago when only 63% considered it to be a must.

However 8.5% of those surveyed said they only purchased travel insurance if they visited destinations perceived as “risky” while 5% said they “rarely or never” took out insurance.

Those figures are also major improvements on 2012, when one in five travellers admitted to never travelling with insurance.

The index has been independently commissioned by SureSave every year since 2012, with Head of Agency Sales, Matt Endycott saying significant progress had been made, but Australians were still clearly travelling abroad without adequate cover.

“It’s our job to help agents explain to their customers that all travel carries an element of risk,” Endycott said.

The poll also found 27% of travellers carried an electronic copy of the Product Disclosure Statement for their cover, but more than half only “skim read over it and have a general idea of what they are covered for”.