Travel Insurer: Weak Economy Not Keeping People at Home
Written by Dan on November 17th, 2008 in General Insurance, Misc, Travel Insurance.
It’s easy to forget, as we open the newspapers every day to a nice mixture of doom and gloom, that people are still living their lives. Yes, the weak economy has caused many to cut back. But that doesn’t mean that people have locked themselves in their homes to dinners of pork-n-beans.
Take a look at this story on the MarketWatch home page. It seems that even in this bad economy, people are still traveling.
Travel Guard, the country’s largest provider of travel insurance, recently reported that empty nesters and Baby Boomers may be giving up other purchases, but are not denying themselves their travel plans. Last week, the insurer reported that the average cost of trips covered through its insurance plans in September and October of this year dropped only a bit when compared to the same period in 2007, falling from $2,057 to $2,009. The company also reported that the number of its clients traveling outside the United States has dropped only by a small percent, too, from 79.5 percent in 2007 to 78.7 percent in 2008.
Travelers, at least those who responded to Travel Guard’s survey, are also getting smarter. The insurer says that consumers are now booking their travel and buying their travel insurance an average of 151 days before their scheduled date of departure.
I’m sure there are other statistics that show that Americans are traveling less. We have to expect this in today’s rough financial times. But it’s somehow reassuring to know that not everyone is letting the tough market slow them down.
Sometimes it’s refreshing to read a bit of good news in these troubling times. And, yes, if you are taking a nice, long trip, congratulations to you. Just don’t forget that travel insurance!
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