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Millennials are purchasing travel insurance at a dramatically higher rate than the Baby Boomer generation, according to a new report conducted by Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection.
Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection’s (BHTP) State of Travel Insurance report found that “Younger travelers (ages 25 to 44) indicated their purchases of travel insurance are up significantly, with 56 percent of Millennial travelers stating they purchased more travel insurance in 2017 than they did in 2016 (35 percent). For Boomers, 43 percent of travelers ages 55 to 74 said they bought less travel insurance in 2017 compared to 2016 (5 percent), and the shift in consumers’ buying behavior seems likely to continue.”
“This is our third year of conducting the State of Travel Insurance research, but this is the first time we’ve seen a noticeable shift in the purchase intents between older and young travelers,” said Dean Sivley, president of BHTP. “The full report reveals that the person long considered to be the typical travel insurance buyer, the 55-to-74-year-old Boomer, is purchasing less due to a desire to travel less frequently, which obviously reduces the need for travel insurance. Conversely, Millennial travelers are planning to buy at a much higher rate in 2018 because they state they better understand travel insurance benefits.”
The report also notes that younger travelers increasingly use comparison sites (46 percent of younger travelers vs. 14 percent of older travelers), read online reviews (46 percent vs. 10 percent) and talk to friends (32 percent vs. 17 percent) when they make their travel insurance buying decisions.
© 2017 David Mazor
Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.