Southern Cross Travel Insurance (SCTI) has launched an optional cruise cover for domestic travellers in response to skyrocketing demand.
Latest SCTI research found that 23% of Australian travellers plan to go on a domestic cruise this year, with 39% Australian domestic travellers looking to buy domestic travel insurance for their upcoming trips. Among Australian travellers, families with children eight years and older accounted for 26% of the total demand, and empty nesters for 19%.
SCTI CEO Jo McCauley said SCTI added a cruise add-on to its domestic travel insurance policy, first launched in December 2020, as the cruising industry bounces back from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Now that the cruising industry is well and truly bouncing back, we're responding to customer demand for cruise cover when travelling around the country,” McCauley said.
In the last 12 months, SCTI has paid out over $190,000 in domestic travel insurance claims, with the most expensive being $10,000 when a customer was hospitalised due to a blood infection and had to cancel their organised tour to receive treatment.
With some domestic cruise costs getting into the thousands for a family of four, excluding travel to and from the departure or arrival port, McCauley said cruise cover is a worthy investment. However, travellers must still be aware of what their insurance does and does not cover.
“There are significant costs associated with domestic cruises, and since the pandemic travellers are even more aware of the chance of cancellations due to unforeseen circumstances, this was identified in our research as a key customer concern. But it's important to note that our cover doesn't include cover for medical and evacuation, so we advise customers to contact their private health insurer and Medicare to ensure they're covered for medical emergencies should anything go wrong,” McCauley said.
In another news, SCTI deemed animal encounters a major issue among SCTI customers over the years.
