Travel Insurance Average: Africa

August 13th, 2017  |  Travel

Recently, HUB Insurance Hunter kicked off a series of posts looking at the cost of travel insurance for Canadians and how it varies depending on factors like destination, age, duration/cost of trip, coverage, gender, etc. Our first one examined travel to the three major countries within North America, our second focused in on South America, and today, we'll set our sights on Africa.

To get a thorough overview of how those aforementioned factors impact the overall cost of your premiums, here are some case studies where the variables are tweaked in order to represent different traveler scenarios. The costs listed are online quotes, and may not necessarily reflect the actual final cost the chosen insurers would charge for a premium.

Case Study 1

• Destination: Africa (if asked for specific country, then Tanzania)
• Province of departure: Nova Scotia
• Duration: 1 month
• Gender: Female
• Age: 45
• Cost of trip: $6,000
• Deductible (if asked): $0
• Existing medical conditions (if asked): None
• Smoker status (if asked): Non-smoker
• Number of additional travelers: None
• Coverage type: All-inclusive
• Package type: Single (non-annual)

Average: $438.76

Now, let's try that same set of variables, but with a small tweak. Instead of coming from Nova Scotia, our 45-year-old female traveler will come from Ontario. Here are the results:

Average: $472.80

Well that's interesting. The Ontario version of this test returns quotes that are $35 higher on average than the Nova Scotia one. Though it's not totally clear why that is, it may have something to do with the different provincial medical coverage plans.

Let's try another tweak to this case study (using Ontario, not Nova Scotia as the province of residence) where the duration of the trip is a much shorter length of 10 days.

Average:$368.02

Clearly there is a significant dip in the average price compared to the month-long trip. However, it is not entirely proportional to the disparity in length, which indicates that there are certain base fees for smaller trips that will apply no matter what.

Enough with this hypothetical traveler. Let's move on to another one!  

Case Study 2

• Destination: Africa (if asked for specific country, then South Africa)
• Province of departure: New Brunswick
• Duration: 6 weeks
• Gender: Male
• Age: 60
• Cost of trip: $10,000
• Deductible (if asked): $0
• Existing medical conditions (if asked): None
• Smoker status (if asked): Smoker
• Number of additional travelers: None
• Coverage type: Trip cancellation or interruption
• Package type: Single (non-annual)

Average:$586.19

What's important to note about this case study in comparison to Case Study 1 is that even without emergency medical coverage, the average cancellation or interruption costs are much more expensive than the all-inclusive package for the healthy 45-year-old woman traveling for two less weeks. Age and trip cost would both factor heavily into that assessment.

To see if that is the case, let's try a variation where it is a one-month, $7,000 trip.

Average:$466.63

As expected, the average went down noticeably after cutting $3,000 and two weeks from the trip. Because of the traveler's age, though, it is still around the same cost range as the first case study, even without emergency medical coverage being in the mix.

Let's see how costly things get when emergency medical coverage is factored in as well (for a trip that lasts a month and costs $7,000, not six weeks and $10,000).

Average: $678.61

This average is just about $100 more than that of the original case study terms, which didn't have medical coverage but had a much larger cost and duration.

Let's finish up with one more, where we keep everything the same as the previous variation except for one big change: the traveler is 25 instead of 60.

Average:$452.43

By going from an age of 60 to a mid-twenties age, the average drops over $225. Even if that 60-year-old is relatively healthy (albeit a smoker), that's a large disparity.