Three Types of People Who Should Get Annual Travel Insurance

With round-trip tickets from Singapore to other destinations in Southeast Asia costing anywhere from S$88 – S$614, it’s not surprising that people here find it relatively affordable to plan a weekend getaway in nearby countries. In fact, regionally, people travel so much that there were 58.9 million travellers passing through Changi Airport in 2023 compared to Singapore’s population of 5.92million. One side effect of this surge in travel is the corresponding increase in number of people purchasing of travel insurance as well.

Estimated Cost of Round Trip Ticket From Singapore to ASEAN Countries in 2023

If you are going on a trip with an air ticket that only costs you S$88, spending S$46 on a travel insurance policy each time you travel can quickly become quite burdensome. For frequent travellers, there is a simple solution to this problem: people who travel at least 4 to 6 times a year could save a meaningful amount of money by purchasing an annual travel insurance.

Below, we profile three different types of people who could benefit meaningfully from buying an annual travel insurance plan.

Frequent Business Travellers

Frequent business travellers easily get on a flight at least once a month. For them, buying an annual travel insurance is an obvious choice. For instance, consider a businessman who travels about 12 times a year (roughly once a month) around the Southeast Asia region. 

He will have spent S$552 on travel insurance purchases if he buys a single trip policy on each of his trips. Instead, if he opts for an annual plan with Asean coverage, he will spend S$330 instead. This saves him 40% in terms of cost, in addition to the non monetary savings of time and the shopping for travel insurance each trip.

As a reference point, according to statistics from On-Time Performance, an industry leader in aviation analytics, flight delays are more common than most would expect. One can only imagine how much worse it could get if one were to travel to less developed countries than Singapore. For a frequent traveller, he might encounter numerous situations when he needs to make a claim. From flight delays and cancellation, loss of baggage, stolen personal belongings and medical attention, by having one annual plan in place, he can receive multiple claim benefits with ease of mind.

Related: Reduce Your Business Trip Pains With These 3 Tips – Singapore Edition

Backpackers

Backpackers are all about enjoying new experiences at a bargain. While everyone loves to score some savings, it is wise for backpackers to have travel insurance in place in case of sickness or other emergencies. This is even more so if you love to go for multiple backpacking holidays anytime you can score bargain flight tickets and accommodations!

For instance, it is not uncommon to find your flight to be cancelled or delayed in tropical regions due to poor weather conditions. What’s even more common is getting your luggage lost or stolen during your trip. When you are travelling for an extended period of time, you could run into all kinds of situations that require you to have some kind of downside protection.

An annual travel insurance can be a great way to protect yourself against theft, sickness or travel complications especially if you are on a trip across several countries. According to ValueChampion’s analysis, the cheapest annual travel insurance policies cost only about S$130, and can be used as your health or medical insurance while you are overseas as well.

Related: 6 Best Travel Hacks for Backpackers

Fervent Skiers and Snowboarders (Adrenaline Junkies)

Singapore is not the most popular vacation spot in the world for nature lovers. A lot of people travel to places like Bali for scuba diving, or to Japan or Australia for skiing. As these adventurous activities can be quite dangerous, it is generally a good idea to have medical insurance coverage in the country you are in so that you can be treated right away in case of an emergency.

An annual travel insurance is a great way for extreme sports fans to get medical and personal accident coverage while they are overseas. For adventure lovers who love to ski or snowboard, it’s quite common to make a couple of trips a year to enjoy these activities. In this instance, an annual plan is well worth the money. Hopefully you won’t actually get injured and have to make a claim, but these activities can easily result in serious injuries that require medical attention and surgeries that can easily cost thousands of dollars. Injuries happen when you least expect them, and it’s always a good idea to have your downside covered in case of an extreme scenario. We recommend you to read the respective insurer’s policy wording for more in-depth coverage exclusion.

If you are ready to purchase travel insurance and be protected for your next trip, check out our page to Compare Travel Insurance Plans in Singapore!

Read More:

• Average Costs and Benefits of Travel Insurance 2024
• How To Survive and Thrive as a Solo Traveller
• What’s Inflating Your Travel Expenses This Year?
• Top 5 Tips for Using Credit Cards Overseas
• Afraid of Getting Your Travel Insurance Claim Rejected? Take These Precautions

Cover image source: Getty Images