Travel Insurance (Reiseversicherung)
Travel insurance bundles various coverage modules for risks associated with a trip, in particular trip cancellation costs, medical emergencies abroad, baggage, and trip interruption.
Comparison profile
- Trigger
- Occurrence
- Insured interest
- The traveller's financial interest in trip costs, medical expenses, and belongings that are put at risk by illness, accident, or other disruption before or during a private or business trip.
- Rating basis
- Trip duration, Destination region, Scope of cover selected (single-trip vs. annual), Age of the traveller (for medical modules)
- Typical limits
- Cancellation cover reimburses actual trip costs up to the amount booked; medical expenses abroad and baggage cover are set as fixed sums insured per trip or per policy year.
- Typical deductibles
- Baggage cover typically carries a small per-claim deductible; cancellation and medical modules are usually paid without a deductible.
- Target segments
- Private, SME
Insured events
- Trip cancellation due to illness or accident before departure
- Medical treatment costs and repatriation abroad
- Loss, damage, or theft of baggage
- Premature curtailment of the trip
Key exclusions
- Pre-existing medical conditions known at the time of booking
- Events already jeopardising the trip at the time the contract was concluded
- War and terrorism (unless expressly bought back)
- Losses caused by intentional acts or gross negligence
Concept
Travel insurance combines several, typically modularly combinable coverage components that address specific risks associated with a private or business trip. It is usually offered either as a standalone, time-limited contract for a single trip or as an annual policy covering all trips within a calendar year.
Typical Modules
Core modules include trip cancellation insurance (Stornoversicherung), which reimburses cancellation costs if the trip cannot be taken due to illness or accident and is frequently also offered as a stand-alone policy separate from the other travel insurance modules; travel medical insurance, covering medical treatment costs and repatriation in the event of illness; baggage insurance, covering loss, damage, or theft of luggage; and trip interruption insurance, covering additional costs if the trip is ended prematurely.
Underwriting Characteristics
Because travel insurance is often purchased shortly before departure and involves comparatively small premium volumes, insurers generally forgo individual risk assessment and instead calculate the premium on a flat-rate basis according to trip duration, destination, and scope of cover; the terms regularly provide for a benefit exclusion where pre-existing medical conditions or events already jeopardizing the trip existed at the time the contract was concluded.
Comparison and delineation
Travel insurance is the individually purchased counterpart to business travel accident insurance, which an employer buys on an annual declaration basis for its workforce; the two products are regularly complemented rather than substituted, since employees’ private trip elements, family members, and cancellation-cost modules are typically only covered under the individual travel policy. Travel health insurance can be bought as a stand-alone module for the medical-cost risk alone, and assistance insurance supplies the alarm-centre organisation that turns the travel policy’s promised benefits into concrete help on the ground.