Abstract
Overview
Introduction
This report is an invaluable source of information on the UK travel insurance market. It provides unique market size information and discusses the main issues and trends facing the sector. It also reveals which insurers are leading the way in this market and forecasts what the future holds for the sector in the next five years under two different scenarios.
Scope
- Consumer data giving insight into travel insurance purchasing habits
- Analysis of the major competitive issues shaping the market, supported by interviews with senior industry executives and data from secondary sources
- GWP forecasts to 2011, based on Datamonitor' s in-house expertise and proprietary model
Report Highlights
Travel insurance premium income grew by 1.4 per cent in 2006. The increase in GWP was driven by an increase in the number of trips taken abroad. Conditions remained competitive mainly as a result of the high number of distributors active in the travel insurance market, which put pressure on premium rates.
The number of trips to North America fell in 2006 and this trend could benefit insurers, as medical costs are notoriously high in the U.S. Less exposure to these risks, as a result of changing travel patterns, could therefore have a positive impact on claims inflation.
The top 10 travel insurance advertisers experienced a significant turnover in 2006. Only the largest insurance providers have the marketing budget to consistently rank in the top 10 advertisers, whereas smaller providers tend to concentrate their efforts during one year only to ease back on their spending in the following year.
Reasons to Purchase
- Plan your future travel insurance strategy using Datamonitor' s market size forecasts
- Understand consumer purchasing and decision making behavior to help you optimize acquisition rates
- 3. Benchmark your travel insurance business against the competition
Table of Contents
- Overview
- Catalyst
- Summary
- Executive Summary
- Travel insurance GWP grew slowly in 2006
- The UK travel insurance market reached a value of £709 million in GWP in 2006
- The majority of travelers continued to buy single trip policies in 2006
- Claims costs in travel insurance are driven largely by medical related
expenses, though fraud is a factor
- The majority of travel insurers' claims costs are the result of paying for medical claims
- Fraud has long been a concern for travel claims, both the professional and opportunistic varieties
- Regulatory changes are impacting the UK travel insurance market
- Insurers have welcomed the decision to regulate the travel trade
- Exclusion of terrorism from some policies continue to be an area of contention
- UK residents traveled abroad more in 2006, with visits to friends and
relatives growing the fastest
- The number of visits taken abroad by UK residents increased by 3.2 per cent in 2006
- Europe remains the destination of choice, though trips to Africa grew the fastest in 2006
- Visits abroad to see family and friends have grown faster than any other reason to travel
- Travel insurance penetration rates vary by age and income
- Older consumers have the highest and most consistent levels of travel insurance uptake
- Higher income consumers are more likely to take out annual cover on their travels
- The top 10 travel insurers maintained their dominant position in the
market in 2006
- The market leaders in 2006 were AXA, Norwich Union and the RBS group of companies
- Travel insurers spent less on advertising in 2006 than in 2005, and focused on direct mail
- The travel insurance market is forecast to reach £838 million in 2011
- Travel insurance GWP grew slowly in 2006
- Table of Contents
- Table of figures
- Table of tables
- Chapter 2 MARKET CONTEXT
- Introduction
- The UK travel insurance GWP increased by 1.4 per cent in 2006, as annual
policy sales grew
- The UK travel insurance market reached a value of £709 million in GWP in 2006
- The majority of policies sold in 2006 were single trip policies
- The majority of travelers continued to buy single trip policies in 2006
- Claims costs in travel insurance are driven largely by medical related
expenses, though fraud is a factor
- The majority of travel insurers' claims costs are the result of paying for medical claims
- Fraud has long been a concern for travel claims, both the professional and opportunistic varieties
- Regulatory changes are impacting the UK travel insurance market
- The treasury select committee has recommended that the travel trade be
included under FSA regulation
- One of the largest travel agents has begun adopting FSA controls ahead of the regulatory change
- Insurers have welcomed the decision to regulate the travel trade
- Exclusion of terrorism from some policies continue to be an area of
contention
- Government plans for a terrorism pool have been rejected by the industry
- The treasury select committee has recommended that the travel trade be
included under FSA regulation
- Chapter 3 Customer Focus
- Introduction
- UK residents traveled abroad more in 2006, with visits to friends and
relatives growing the fastest
- The number of visits abroad by UK residents increased by 3.2 per cent
in 2006
- Trip numbers grew in every quarter of 2006, though Q3 saw only a marginal increase
- Europe remains the destination of choice, though trips to Africa grew the fastest in 2006
- Visits abroad to see family and friends have grown faster than any other reason to travel
- Package holidays continue to fall as independent travel increases in
popularity
- Package tours to Europe continued to decline in 2006, but grew for other countries
- The number of visits abroad by UK residents increased by 3.2 per cent
in 2006
- Penetration rates vary by age and income, though all consumers like
policies that are convenient
- Older consumers have the highest and most consistent levels of travel insurance uptake
- Consumers value convenience and price when selecting a travel insurance provider
- Annual cover becomes more prevalent as consumers age, though over 60' s may have more difficulty
- Higher income consumers are more likely to take out annual cover on their travels
- The travel trade and direct insurers dominate distribution, and the
Internet plays a key role
- Travel insurance is purchases by consumers from a variety of sources
- Online offerings are key to selling this relatively commoditized product
- Chapter 4 Competitive dynamics
- Introduction
- The top 10 travel insurers maintained their dominant position in the
market in 2006
- The market leaders in 2006 were AXA, Norwich Union and the RBS group of companies
- The rest of the top 10 includes companies such as Fortis and St Andrews
- A number of affinity accounts were entered into or renewed in 2006
- Mondial renewed a number of contracts in 2006
- AXA has won a number of affinity accounts
- Norwich Union entered a joint venture with HSBC
- Several other affinity accounts were also agreed in 2006 and 2007
- Travel insurers spent less on advertising in 2006 than in 2005, and
focused on direct mail
- Travel insurance marketing spending decreased by 2.4 per cent to £5.5 million in 2006
- Direct mail was the most important medium in 2006, though other media gained in popularity
- The Post Office became the top travel insurance advertiser in 2006
- Chapter 5 FUTURE DECODED
- Introduction
- Travel insurance GWP is influenced by pricing strategies, travel and
distribution trends
- Premium rates in travel insurance are driven by competitive behavior
- Current travel trends suggest slow yet steady growth in the number of
trips abroad by UK residents
- A terrorist attack in UK or in a popular tourist destination could negatively impact travel patterns
- Travel insurance distribution will continue to move away from the travel trade
- In Scenario One, the travel insurance market grows steadily throughout
the forecast period
- This neutral scenario foresees no major shocks to the market and penetration levels remain steady
- The travel insurance market is forecast to reach £838 million in 2011, according to Scenario One
- In Scenario Two, the travel trade is forecast to lose market share at a
quicker pace in 2009
- The portion of the market distributed through the travel trade will severely contract if travel agents choose to leave the market
- Travel insurance GWP is forecast to contact by 2.7 per cent in 2009 due to a loss of business from the travel trade
- APPENDIX
- Supplementary Information
- Market Context
- Customer Focus
- Competitive Dynamics
- Definitions
- Brokers
- Bancassurers
- Brandassurers
- Gross Written Premiums
- Geographical areas
- Research methodology
- Primary research
- Market Context
- Customer Focus
- Ipsos MORI methodology and contacts
- Competitive Dynamics
- Relevant links
- Further reading
- Ask the analyst
- Datamonitor consulting
- Disclaimer
- List of Tables
- Table 1: Travel insurance GWP, 2002-6
- Table 2: Number of visits abroad by UK residents, 2002-6
- Table 3: UK residents' visits abroad by destination, 2002-6
- Table 4: UK residents' visits abroad by reason for travel, 2002-6
- Table 5: Holidays and inclusive tours taken by UK residents, 2002-6
- Table 6: Holidays and inclusive tours taken by UK residents, by destination, 2002-6
- Table 7: Travel insurance product penetration by age, 2006
- Table 8: Annual/single trip policy breakdown for UK travelers with separate travel cover by age, 2006
- Table 9: Annual/single trip policy for UK traveler with separate travel cover by income bracket, 2006
- Table 10: Distribution of travel insurance GWP by channel, 2002-6
- Table 11: Top 10 travel insurers by premium income and market share, 2006
- Table 12: Travel insurance advertising spend by medium, 2003-6
- Table 13: Advertising spend by the top 10 largest travel insurance advertisers, 2006
- Table 14: Scenario One: UK travel insurance GWP, 2002-11f
- Table 15: Scenario Two: UK travel insurance GWP, 2002-11f
- Table 16: Number of trips abroad taken by UK residents by quarter, 2002-6p
- Table 17: Number of trips to North America taken by UK residents, by quarter 2002-6p
- Table 18: Business travel abroad by UK residents, by destination, 2002-6
- Table 19: Visits to friends and relatives abroad by UK residents, by destination, 2002-6
- Table 20: Reason for purchasing travel insurance policy, 2006
- Table 21: Top 10 UK travel insurers by premium income, 2005-6
- Table 22: Top 10 travel insurance advertisers by medium, 2005
- Table 23: Relationships between travel underwriters and major tour operators, 2007
- Table 24: Relationships between travel underwriters and online travel agents, 2007
- Table 25: Relationships between travel underwriters and low cost airlines, 2007
- Table 26: Relationships between travel underwriters and banks and building societies, 2007
- Table 27: Relationships between travel underwriters and selected brandassurers, 2007
- List of Figures
- Figure 1: The number of trip taken abroad continued to increase above 3 per cent in 2006
- Figure 2: The travel insurance market experienced slower GWP growth in 2006 than in previous years
- Figure 3: Insurers' books vary considerable but the average split still favors single trip policies, according to Datamonitor interviews
- Figure 4: The majority of travel insurance coverage is obtained in the form of single trip insurance policies
- Figure 5: Medical bills dominated the claims costs for Norwich Union in 2006
- Figure 6: The Treasury Select Committee has set out three options for the future of travel insurance distribution
- Figure 7: The number of trip taken abroad continued to increase above 3 per cent in 2006
- Figure 8: Strong growth in the second quarter of 2006 gave way to marginal movement in the summer months of the third quarter
- Figure 9: Travel to the Americas and Australia fell in 2006 while trips to all other parts of the world increased
- Figure 10: Growth in holidays have tapered off in 2006 after strong growth in the preceding years
- Figure 11: Travel increased in all lines but visits to see friends and family grew the most in 2006
- Figure 12: Independently arranged holidays have gained in popularity
- Figure 13: Packaged holidays to North America and Europe are falling as a percentage of total holidays
- Figure 14: Market penetration is high across all age groups but older consumers display the highest levels of product uptake
- Figure 15: Ease of obtaining the insurance as well as price are the most often cited reasons for choosing a provider
- Figure 16: The popularity of annual policies increase as consumers age
- Figure 17: Affluent consumers are more likely to take out annual travel policies
- Figure 18: Travel agents and tour operators remain a significant distribution channel for travel insurance
- Figure 19: AXA remained the market leader in 2006, accounting for one fifth of travel insurance GWP
- Figure 20: Travel insurance advertising spending declined in 2006 after strong growth in the previous two years
- Figure 21: The Post Office became the largest travel insurance advertiser in 2006 on the strength of its press campaign
- Figure 22: Key to the relative importance of forecast variables
- Figure 23: A number of factors influence travel insurance GWP in Scenario One
- Figure 24: Travel insurance GWP is forecast to reach a value of £838 million in 2011 brought on by steady growth
- Figure 25: A number of factors influence travel insurance GWP in Scenario Two
- Figure 26: FSA regulation is expected to cause GWP to contract in 2009
- Figure 27: Travel to North America has only slightly increased since 2003
- Supplementary Information
