As another year of travel draws to a close, one thing is clear. Travel didn’t just return. It evolved.
Across the past twelve months, we saw travellers moving with more intention, asking better questions, and making more considered decisions about how and where they travelled. For those of us working in travel and travel insurance, that shift mattered.
This year wasn’t defined by volume alone. It was defined by complexity.
Much of what we saw reflected what our distributors experienced day to day.
Travel remained strong to long-haul destinations, particularly Japan, Europe, the United States, and the UK. These weren’t short, stop-start trips. They were longer stays, multi-country itineraries, cruises, and journeys with higher upfront costs locked in well before departure.
Domestic travel and cruising also remained a constant reminder that risk doesn’t only exist overseas.
What stood out most wasn’t any single destination. It was how travel choices shaped exposure. Longer trips, higher non-refundable costs, and more moving parts meant that when things went wrong, the impact was greater.
Those travel patterns flowed directly into how travellers approached insurance.
Across the year, Go Elite was our most selected level of cover, this reflected the reality of longer trips, higher upfront costs, and more complex itineraries.
Cancellation cover selections reinforced the same theme. The most frequently selected cancellation amounts sat around $20,000, aligning closely with how travel costs have changed, particularly for long-haul travel, escorted tours, and cruise itineraries.
Mid-year, we introduced Ultra and the optional Cancel For Your Reason (CFYR) benefit in Australia in response to this changing travel landscape. These additions weren’t designed to replace existing products, but to provide greater flexibility for travellers whose trips carried higher financial or personal complexity.
Since the initial Australian launch, Ultra has been taken up in a deliberate and controlled way, with CFYR attaching where travellers actively chose additional flexibility. Access to Ultra is intentionally limited to distributors who have completed the required learning, positioning it as a premium option designed for higher-value, more complex travel and supported, informed conversations.
Ultra was built with premium travel in mind. Longer itineraries, higher upfront commitments, and trips where flexibility matters as much as protection. Within that context, CFYR offers a distinct option. Not as a default, but as a considered tool that can help address uncertainty at the point of decision and support traveller confidence.
Where distributors are trained and accredited, that combination has resonated. It supports meaningful conversations and reflects a more nuanced approach to how travel is being sold and insured today.
We plan to extend Ultra+CFYR to New Zealand in the new year, following the same learning-led approach.
Claims always tell the real story, and this year they highlighted just how quickly everyday travel situations can escalate.
Around one third were medical claims, but they accounted for the most complex and high-impact outcomes. Several medical claims incurred very high costs arising from situations that began as relatively ordinary travel moments.
These included:
Not all medical claims occurred once travel had commenced.
This year, we also managed a meaningful number of pre-trip cancellations linked to medical events, including new diagnoses, acute illness, and situations where travellers were no longer fit to travel. These claims often arose suddenly, sometimes only weeks or days before departure.
They reinforced an important point. Medical risk doesn’t begin at departure. It can disrupt travel plans well before a journey starts, making the protection of a traveller’s investment in their trip just as critical as support once they are overseas.
Why This Matters
What these claims reinforced was simple.
Medical risk doesn’t present neatly, and it doesn’t stay contained. When something goes wrong overseas, cost, complexity, and decision-making can compound quickly, particularly in unfamiliar health systems.
For travellers, this highlights the importance of understanding their medical cover before departure.
For distributors, it reinforces the value of clear, accurate conversations around disclosure and expectations at the point of sale.
Strong outcomes are rarely accidental. They’re built on clarity long before a claim is lodged.
As travel became more complex, it became clear that the way people engaged with medical cover needed to evolve too.
This year, we focused on improving how travellers understand what is automatically covered, when further screening is required, and why accurate disclosure matters. Not to create barriers, but to remove uncertainty.
The aim was simple. To help travellers make informed decisions earlier, reduce surprises later, and support better outcomes when claims occur.
Medical isn’t about catching people out. It’s about shared understanding.
For those interested in more context, I recently shared a video explaining the thinking behind these changes and why medical clarity has become such an important part of modern travel insurance.
[Watch the video here]
Innovation this year wasn’t about adding noise. It was about adding clarity.
We invested in education through our learning platform, giving distributors better tools, clearer explanations, and more consistent foundations for confident and compliant conversations. The focus wasn’t speed. It was understanding.
We also introduced more human ways to explain complex insurance concepts, recognising that confidence comes from clarity. When people genuinely understand what they’re selling or buying, outcomes improve for everyone. Tools like Molly and Reggie weren’t designed to simplify the message, but to make it more accessible and easier to engage with.
At a product level, the introduction of Ultra+CFYR reflected the same philosophy. These weren’t designed to suit everyone. They were built for premium, higher-value travel, where flexibility and informed decision-making matter most. Made available through trained distributors, Ultra+CFYR supported more considered conversations and were taken up thoughtfully, exactly as intended.
If this year taught us anything, it’s that modern travel demands clearer conversations.
About medical risk.
About cancellation exposure.
About how insurance fits into longer, more complex journeys.
As we head into the year ahead, that focus remains unchanged. We’ll continue investing in education, clarity, and thoughtful innovation, ensuring products and processes evolve alongside how people actually travel.
Across both Australia and New Zealand, that also means being closer to our distributors. We’re continuing to strengthen our on-the-ground presence in both markets, recognising that meaningful support, education, and partnership work best when they’re accessible and local.
Thank you for being part of that journey with us.