Thailand has a strong majority (92%) planning to travel in 2022 but only moderately keen to buy travel insurance for both domestic (48%) and regional/international trips (59%). Slightly more than half of those we surveyed (55%) also already have a preferred brand they buy insurance from.
However, Thailand interestingly comes up top (58% indicated “likely to purchase”) when it comes to their willingness to purchase in-path/embedded travel insurance. Majority of them opined personalization to their needs as to why they prefer to purchase insurance via in-path/embedded means.
Let’s delve into greater detail into the Thai market to find out what ticks for consumers when it comes to embedded travel insurance. The consumer research is part of Ancileo’s 2022 Travel Insurance Whitepaper, in which you can find the key highlights gathered from the global research deck in our post here.
Only 53% amongst consumers who are not planning to travel indicated that they would purchase travel insurance if they were to travel for essential reasons. More than half of those (56%) are Gen Y consumers.
Majority of travelers already have a preferred insurance brand. For those without a preferred insurance brand, they are generally drawn in by price discounts, reputation for pre- and post-purchase service, and basically any plan that does what an insurance policy claims to do: Risk management and mitigation.
High coverage amount is the top influencing factor when evaluating travel insurance plan to purchase, across all professions and age groups. Price of plan holds significant importance
for boomers aged between 56-69, and 41% of the travelers who have the tendency of using OTAs for travel bookings.
Medical coverage and personal accident coverage are the top reasons to buy travel insurance. In the regard of breakdown by consumer profiles:
Reasons to buy travel insurance
Reasons to buy/not buy travel insurance via in-path/embedded means
As with other markets, Thai travelers indulge in the benefits of convenience, ease of purchase and time savings with getting travel insurance via in-path/embedded means. For those standing on the fence, they would be drawn by the ability for personalization, price discounts and clarity of the information of the policies.
In the regard of motivating factors to purchase from travel players, personalization to needs comes in top. Baby boomers are the most motivated to purchase when the insurance plan is
offered by their preferred insurance company, whereas travelers who only travel for leisure are motivated by price discounts on plans.
Chulin Kocharoen, VP Sales and Acting VP Marketing at Bangkok Airways, posited the benefits of their collaboration with their insurer partner in which it allows them to offer ticket flexibilities without additional cost to increase travel confidence among consumers. For the insurer, this collaboration has enabled them to offer new products and services to be slotted in each touchpoint of the consumer journey without disrupting the passenger journey during the booking period or after-sales.