Top Ten Foreign Destinations Where Americans Bought Travel Insurance Are Headed

Above, at the Kinkaku-ji Golden Pavilion in Kyoto, Japan in 2015.

Of my eight visits to Japan and one to Cuba, I've only purchased travel insurance once, and that was for G-TOUR to Japan in 2004.

Since I am 15 years older than I was in 2004, I will likely purchase travel insurance (which covers hospitalization, should the need arise) for future trips.

CNBC has posted an article on the top ten foreign destinations where Americans also bought travel insurance.

They begin with:

The U.S. may be a big country with a lot for domestic vacationers to experience, yet Americans like to venture abroad, too. 

More than 40% of U.S. citizens hold passports and, according to the National Travel and Tourism Office in Washington, D.C., some 93.04 million of them traveled outside U.S. borders in 2018. 

For example, about 8.7 million Americans flew or cruised to the Caribbean last year, while 17.74 million-plus made tracks for Europe, over 6.25 million headed to Asia and more than 2.44 million vacationed in the Middle East. 

Heading so far outside U.S. borders often comes at considerable cost. The Los Angeles Times reported in 2016 that overseas trips can cost up to five times more than domestic ones, so it’s no surprise many of those planning a foreign vacation opt to purchase travel insurance. Whether or insurance is a good fit for one’s own trip, however, depends on individual circumstances, CNBC has reported.

Geopolitical or personal safety concerns can also come into play with trips to certain destinations. For example, Warwick, Rhode Island-based online travel insurance emporium InsureMyTrip has noted a rise in policies sold for trips to the Dominican Republic after reports of Americans falling ill there, according to a spokesperson. In fact, 3 out of 10 calls to its insurance agents are from travelers with questions about or cancellation requests for the country. 

Here’s a look at the top 10 foreign countries (excluding cruise destinations) that vacationers who have opted to buy travel insurance have headed to over the past 18 months, according to InsureMyTrip.com, along with figures for the total number of Americans, insured and not, who visited these nations in 2017 or 2018.

To read more, go here.