Table of Contents

UK Travel Insurance 2007 - This report offers a comprehensive guide to the UK travel insurance market, including information on market size, market drivers, consumer trends and the top competitors in the market.

Product Code: bffs0493

Publication Date: 07-Aug-2007

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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

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

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Overview	1
Catalyst	1
Summary	1
Executive Summary	2
Travel insurance GWP grew slowly in 2006	2
The UK travel insurance market reached a value of £709 million in GWP in 2006	2
The majority of travelers continued to buy single trip policies in 2006	2
Claims costs in travel insurance are driven largely by medical related expenses, though fraud is a factor	2
The majority of travel insurers' claims costs are the result of paying for medical claims	2
Fraud has long been a concern for travel claims, both the professional and opportunistic varieties	2
Regulatory changes are impacting the UK travel insurance market	2
Insurers have welcomed the decision to regulate the travel trade	2
Exclusion of terrorism from some policies continue to be an area of contention	3
UK residents traveled abroad more in 2006, with visits to friends and relatives growing the fastest	3
The number of visits taken abroad by UK residents increased by 3.2 per cent in 2006	3
Europe remains the destination of choice, though trips to Africa grew the fastest in 2006	4
Visits abroad to see family and friends have grown faster than any other reason to travel	4
Travel insurance penetration rates vary by age and income	4
Older consumers have the highest and most consistent levels of travel insurance uptake	4
Higher income consumers are more likely to take out annual cover on their travels	5
The top 10 travel insurers maintained their dominant position in the market in 2006	5
The market leaders in 2006 were AXA, Norwich Union and the RBS group of companies	5
Travel insurers spent less on advertising in 2006 than in 2005, and focused on direct mail	5
The travel insurance market is forecast to reach £838 million in 2011	5
Table of Contents	6
Table of figures	7
Table of tables	8
Chapter 2 MARKET CONTEXT	9
Introduction	9
The UK travel insurance GWP increased by 1.4 per cent in 2006, as annual policy sales grew	9
The UK travel insurance market reached a value of £709 million in GWP in 2006	9
The majority of policies sold in 2006 were single trip policies	10
The majority of travelers continued to buy single trip policies in 2006	11
Claims costs in travel insurance are driven largely by medical related expenses, though fraud is a factor	12
The majority of travel insurers' claims costs are the result of paying for medical claims	12
Fraud has long been a concern for travel claims, both the professional and opportunistic varieties	13
Regulatory changes are impacting the UK travel insurance market	13
The treasury select committee has recommended that the travel trade be included under FSA regulation	13
One of the largest travel agents has begun adopting FSA controls ahead of the regulatory change	14
Insurers have welcomed the decision to regulate the travel trade	15
Exclusion of terrorism from some policies continue to be an area of contention	15
Government plans for a terrorism pool have been rejected by the industry	15
Chapter 3 Customer Focus	17
Introduction	17
UK residents traveled abroad more in 2006, with visits to friends and relatives growing the fastest	17
The number of visits abroad by UK residents increased by 3.2 per cent in 2006	17
Trip numbers grew in every quarter of 2006, though Q3 saw only a marginal increase	18
Europe remains the destination of choice, though trips to Africa grew the fastest in 2006	19
Visits abroad to see family and friends have grown faster than any other reason to travel	21
Package holidays continue to fall as independent travel increases in popularity	22
Package tours to Europe continued to decline in 2006, but grew for other countries	24
Penetration rates vary by age and income, though all consumers like policies that are convenient	26
Older consumers have the highest and most consistent levels of travel insurance uptake	26
Consumers value convenience and price when selecting a travel insurance provider	27
Annual cover becomes more prevalent as consumers age, though over 60's may have more difficulty	28
Higher income consumers are more likely to take out annual cover on their travels	29
The travel trade and direct insurers dominate distribution, and the Internet plays a key role	30
Travel insurance is purchases by consumers from a variety of sources	30
Online offerings are key to selling this relatively commoditized product	32
Chapter 4 Competitive dynamics	33
Introduction	33
The top 10 travel insurers maintained their dominant position in the market in 2006	33
The market leaders in 2006 were AXA, Norwich Union and the RBS group of companies	33
The rest of the top 10 includes companies such as Fortis and St Andrews	33
A number of affinity accounts were entered into or renewed in 2006	35
Mondial renewed a number of contracts in 2006	35
AXA has won a number of affinity accounts	36
Norwich Union entered a joint venture with HSBC	36
Several other affinity accounts were also agreed in 2006 and 2007	36
Travel insurers spent less on advertising in 2006 than in 2005, and focused on direct mail	37
Travel insurance marketing spending decreased by 2.4 per cent to £5.5 million in 2006	37
Direct mail was the most important medium in 2006, though other media gained in popularity	37
The Post Office became the top travel insurance advertiser in 2006	39
Chapter 5 FUTURE DECODED	41
Introduction	41
Travel insurance GWP is influenced by pricing strategies, travel and distribution trends	41
Premium rates in travel insurance are driven by competitive behavior	41
Current travel trends suggest slow yet steady growth in the number of trips abroad by UK residents	41
A terrorist attack in UK or in a popular tourist destination could negatively impact travel patterns	41
Travel insurance distribution will continue to move away from the travel trade	41
In Scenario One, the travel insurance market grows steadily throughout the forecast period	42
This neutral scenario foresees no major shocks to the market and penetration levels remain steady	42
The travel insurance market is forecast to reach £838 million in 2011, according to Scenario One	43
In Scenario Two, the travel trade is forecast to lose market share at a quicker pace in 2009	45
The portion of the market distributed through the travel trade will severely contract if travel agents choose to leave the market	45
Travel insurance GWP is forecast to contact by 2.7 per cent in 2009 due to a loss of business from the travel trade	46
APPENDIX	49
Supplementary Information	49
Market Context	49
Customer Focus	49
Competitive Dynamics	51
Definitions	55
Brokers	55
Bancassurers	55
Brandassurers	55
Gross Written Premiums	55
Geographical areas	55
Research methodology	56
Primary research	56
Market Context	56
Customer Focus	56
Ipsos MORI methodology and contacts	56
Competitive Dynamics	57
Relevant links	57
Further reading	58
Ask the analyst	58
Datamonitor consulting	58
Disclaimer	58
List of Tables
Table 1: Travel insurance GWP, 2002-6	10
Table 2: Number of visits abroad by UK residents, 2002-6	18
Table 3: UK residents' visits abroad by destination, 2002-6	20
Table 4: UK residents' visits abroad by reason for travel, 2002-6	22
Table 5: Holidays and inclusive tours taken by UK residents, 2002-6	23
Table 6: Holidays and inclusive tours taken by UK residents, by destination, 2002-6	25
Table 7: Travel insurance product penetration by age, 2006	27
Table 8: Annual/single trip policy breakdown for UK travelers with separate travel cover by age, 2006	29
Table 9: Annual/single trip policy for UK traveler with separate travel cover by income bracket, 2006	30
Table 10: Distribution of travel insurance GWP by channel, 2002-6	32
Table 11: Top 10 travel insurers by premium income and market share, 2006	35
Table 12: Travel insurance advertising spend by medium, 2003-6	38
Table 13: Advertising spend by the top 10 largest travel insurance advertisers, 2006	40
Table 14: Scenario One: UK travel insurance GWP, 2002-11f	45
Table 15: Scenario Two: UK travel insurance GWP, 2002-11f	48
Table 16: Number of trips abroad taken by UK residents by quarter, 2002-6p	49
Table 17: Number of trips to North America taken by UK residents, by quarter 2002-6p	50
Table 18: Business travel abroad by UK residents, by destination, 2002-6	50
Table 19: Visits to friends and relatives abroad by UK residents, by destination, 2002-6	50
Table 20: Reason for purchasing travel insurance policy, 2006	51
Table 21: Top 10 UK travel insurers by premium income, 2005-6	51
Table 22: Top 10 travel insurance advertisers by medium, 2005	52
Table 23: Relationships between travel underwriters and major tour operators, 2007	52
Table 24: Relationships between travel underwriters and online travel agents, 2007	53
Table 25: Relationships between travel underwriters and low cost airlines, 2007	53
Table 26: Relationships between travel underwriters and banks and building societies, 2007	54
Table 27: Relationships between travel underwriters and selected brandassurers, 2007	55
List of Figures
Figure 1: The number of trip taken abroad continued to increase above 3 per cent in 2006	4
Figure 2: The travel insurance market experienced slower GWP growth in 2006 than in previous years	10
Figure 3: Insurers' books vary considerable but the average split still favors single trip policies, according to Datamonitor interviews	11
Figure 4: The majority of travel insurance coverage is obtained in the form of single trip insurance policies	12
Figure 5: Medical bills dominated the claims costs for Norwich Union in 2006	13
Figure 6: The Treasury Select Committee has set out three options for the future of travel insurance distribution	14
Figure 7: The number of trip taken abroad continued to increase above 3 per cent in 2006	17
Figure 8: Strong growth in the second quarter of 2006 gave way to marginal movement in the summer months of the third quarter	19
Figure 9: Travel to the Americas and Australia fell in 2006 while trips to all other parts of the world increased	20
Figure 10: Growth in holidays have tapered off in 2006 after strong growth in the preceding years	21
Figure 11: Travel increased in all lines but visits to see friends and family grew the most in 2006	22
Figure 12: Independently arranged holidays have gained in popularity	23
Figure 13: Packaged holidays to North America and Europe are falling as a percentage of total holidays	24
Figure 14: Market penetration is high across all age groups but older consumers display the highest levels of product uptake	26
Figure 15: Ease of obtaining the insurance as well as price are the most often cited reasons for choosing a provider	28
Figure 16: The popularity of annual policies increase as consumers age	29
Figure 17: Affluent consumers are more likely to take out annual travel policies	30
Figure 18: Travel agents and tour operators remain a significant distribution channel for travel insurance	31
Figure 19: AXA remained the market leader in 2006, accounting for one fifth of travel insurance GWP	34
Figure 20: Travel insurance advertising spending declined in 2006 after strong growth in the previous two years	38
Figure 21: The Post Office became the largest travel insurance advertiser in 2006 on the strength of its press campaign	39
Figure 22: Key to the relative importance of forecast variables	42
Figure 23: A number of factors influence travel insurance GWP in Scenario One	43
Figure 24: Travel insurance GWP is forecast to reach a value of £838 million in 2011 brought on by steady growth	44
Figure 25: A number of factors influence travel insurance GWP in Scenario Two	46
Figure 26: FSA regulation is expected to cause GWP to contract in 2009	47
Figure 27: Travel to North America has only slightly increased since 2003	49

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