Chinese travellers are purchasing travel insurance at higher rates than ever before, according to a new report from China-based online travel agency Ctrip International Ltd. The number of Chinese holidaymakers buying travel cover for their outbound trips grew by 20 per cent in 2018 compared with the year before, a trend largely driven by an increasing number of seniors heading off on trips, a wider variety of exotic locations on offer for holidays, and ever-more expensive gadgets needing to be packed – and therefore protected.
Ctrip also found that when it came to travel insurance payouts for Chinese travellers in 2018, 46 per cent were for compensation for changes to travel schedules, 35 per cent were for travel delays and 15 per cent were to cover the cost of medical care.
In terms of local destinations, Guangzhou (Guangdong province), Xiamen (Fujian province) and the Hainan province in China were worst for flight delays, while for overseas destinations, Indonesia, the Maldives and the Philippines were the worst.
The highest proportion of outbound Chinese travellers who took out travel insurance, according to Ctrip, were found to be heading to Europe, at least partly because applying for a Schengen Visa mandates travel cover as a prerequisite. This was followed by Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Indonesia.
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