Why Boomers Need Travel Insurance
BABY BOOMER TRAVEL
By Justin Tysdal, CEO of Seven Corners
By 2025, your generation will account for 11 percent of the world’s population, and industry research finds that baby boomers are contributing to a $157 billion spend on trips every year. In addition, 38 percent of you have created a travel bucket list of places you plan to visit during retirement, so it’s no surprise that “baby boomer travel” is quickly becoming a lucrative industry.
Studies show your generation is also shaking up trends by adding some variety to your travel destinations. While 50 percent of boomers are traveling domestically — especially to Florida in the winter — the other 50 percent of you are equally interested in international vacations. Trips such as luxury trekking in Peru’s Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu are highly desired, as are food- and history-based walking tours. If you’ve ever thought about traveling based on your 23andMe results you’re not alone, as many boomers are also visiting their ancestral lands to explore the places where their families originated.
While travel and adventure can be an ideal way to spend your retirement (or partial retirement), the money you’ve worked hard for over the course of your life is incredibly important. Being able to prioritize plans to protect your travel investments and personal health is key, and this is where travel insurance comes in.
Trip Protection Insurance
Anytime you’re making a material investment in a trip cost, experts recommend trip protection insurance for domestic and international travel. It covers nonrefundable and unused trip expenses if you need to cancel or experience a change of plans. This also covers additional costs for trip interruptions and delays, as well as missed connections due to unforeseen events. A list of covered reasons such as sickness, death, and weather can trigger coverage for these benefits.
A trip insurance plan also includes coverage for medical expenses. Overall, this type of plan can make a huge difference for travelers, saving them thousands in the long run. For example, while traveling in the U.K., a Georgia woman wound up extremely ill — requiring an emergency flight home and surgery. Her travel insurance policy covered her medical care in the U.K., her flight back to the U.S., and reimbursed her for the unused portion of her trip expenses.
Trip protection plans can also include baggage protection, which ensures that your personal belongings and luggage are covered in case of loss, theft, delay, or damage.
A key policy option is the Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) benefit, which allows the most flexibility with your plans and enables you to cancel a trip for any reason you wish. If anything unusual occurs that is not already covered by the trip protection plan, you would be able to cancel the trip and be reimbursed for at least 75 percent of your nonrefundable trip cost. This benefit is ideal when you don’t want to miss unpredictable family events (like the birth of a grandchild) but still want to plan ahead for travel.
Travel Medical Insurance
This type of policy is designed to cover you when you travel outside your home country. Travel medical insurance protects unexpected medical expenses that domestic health insurance (including Medicare and Medicaid) may not cover on trips outside of the U.S. Studies show it can be up to 12 times more expensive to spend the night in a hospital abroad than a five-star luxury hotel. Travel insurance can help mitigate these costs and even provide assistance through a time of crisis or uncertainty.
Your generation makes up approximately 26 percent of the U.S. population and is responsible for 80 percent of all luxury travel spending. These travel trends will likely continue to grow, so it’s important to protect your trip expenses and your individual health in the name of adventure.
About Justin Tysdal
Justin Tysdal brings more than 25 years of business leadership and insurance industry experience to his role as CEO of Seven Corners, Inc. As the company’s co-founder and visionary, he leverages his vast knowledge and successful track record of developing customized travel insurance solutions, designing trip protection and travel medical insurance programs, and innovating industry services to meet the needs of future travelers.
Category: Baby Boomer, Travel
