Singapore travellers continued to be avid travellers despite the slowing economy during the last quarter of the year. Although this was a mere 2% drop from a similar survey done in 2014, it reinforced the fact that Singapore travellers have a large appetite for vacations overseas.
SINGAPORE – Chubb revealed four trends pertaining to leisure travel in Singapore. From November to December last year, 1,998 Singapore travellers participated in an online survey conducted by Chubb Travel Insurance. Their responses uncovered the following insights:
Seventy-nine percent of Singapore respondents travelled twice a year or more, across all ages and gender.
- Singapore travellers continued to be avid travellers despite the slowing economy during the last quarter of the year. Although this was a mere 2% drop from a similar survey done in 2014, it reinforced the fact that Singapore travellers have a large appetite for vacations overseas. The additional public holiday from the SG50 celebration also had a part to play.
- Their vacations overseas have not been totally incident-free as 80% of the respondents had experienced a travel mishap, up from 75% in 2014.
- Flight delays continued to occupy the top spot. Falling ill was the next most common incident, followed by trip postponement or cancellation.
- The survey respondents also indicated that theft (52%) was their top travel fear, followed by being injured in an accident (44%) and then loss or delay of luggage (43%).
- It appears to be a trend for younger respondents (those less than 30 years old) to be most worried about travel inconvenience such as theft and loss or delay of luggage. This is in contrast to the older respondents of 40 years and above, who were worried most about suffering an injury and falling ill. This is a similar finding in the 2014’s survey results.
- Thirty percent of the survey respondents have travelled without insurance but wish they hadn’t. This is an increase from 23% last year.
“With the proliferation of mobile devices in a highly connected society such as Singapore, it is not surprising that 88 percent of the respondents would frequently book their leisure trips online while 72% would purchase their travel insurance online. What is disturbing is that close to 30% of the survey respondents have travelled without insurance but wish they hadn’t. We delved further and found that half of them travelled thrice or more in a year, incurring a higher exposure to travel mishaps without the safety net provided by travel insurance. The findings reinforce our push to educate consumers on the benefits of travel insurance and also provide useful tips to help our customers travel smarter and be better prepared for their trips,” said Greg Dodds, Country President of Chubb Insurance Singapore Limited.
Jon Ford, Vice President & Regional Head of Travel, Asia Pacific for Chubb, commented, “We are constantly seeking to understand Singapore travellers’ attitudes towards travel insurance and their motivation for purchase. As a responsible insurer, we also want to identify potential travel mishaps that they are likely to encounter so that we can tailor our travel insurance product to provide relevant and timely coverage. By conducting surveys, coupled with an innovative approach to product development and testing, we are committed to meeting the evolving needs of today’s consumers.”
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