Travel insurance has long been treated like a checkbox, something that is purchased at the last minute or built on rigid forms and static assumptions. Recent developments in the aging demographics, immigrant families, digital nomads and post pandemic unpredictability has changed the Canadian travel space.
We are now in an era where travel insurance needs to earn trust before the trip, adapt during the journey with personalised relevance and context, steps up in moments that matter and more importantly, to be more than a price point.
Why Travel Insurance is Booming in Canada?
The past few years has seen an increase in the international travel rebounds, immigrants and retiree population in Canada. This continued growth also resulted in demand for robust travel insurance. In 2023, Canadians alone made over $36.2 million outbound trips, which was a sharp recovery from pre-pandemic lows. Additionally, country’s aging populations i.e. one in five Canadians will be over 65 by 2030 gives you the perfect storm of medical complexity, rising claims and higher consumer expectations.
There is also the Super Visa factor, with 20,000 super visa holders coming to Canada annually. Thus, the need for a long-term medical insurance has become niche, with higher growth and a market in itself. But the problem is that despite all this the quoting systems in many MGAs and Carriers in Canada still feels like outdates with poor cross device experience, clunky UX and improper data capture.
The Tech Opportunity: Not Just Quotes, but Trust-Building Touchpoints
Today’s travellers whether they are Digital nomads, snowbirds or Super Visa applicants expects more convenience, protection and transparency that can evolve with their trip. This can put the carriers in a position where they can’t compete on price or benefits charts anymore. What they need to understand is that the quoting experience is more for a trust building opportunity rather than just a gateway. Here are a few tech-forward moves that can transform the quoting experience from transactional to truly traveller-centric and personalized.
Integrated Medical Questionnaire
What we have seen often during the travel insurance journey is that people get overwhelmed to answer with the medical questions, especially when it comes to older travellers, dealing with complex health histories. So instead of pushing this to post purchase calls or extensive paperwork, an alternate approach is to build a smart step by step questionnaire which can be integrated right into the quote flow itself. It asks the most basic question like “Have you had a heart surgery in the last 5 years?” for someone over 65 with a previous cardiac condition, flags anything that could impact the price and inform the customer about the eligibility for pre-existing condition coverage, then and there. By embedding this step into the quote, not only helps customer to understand what they are covered before they buy, also reduces the need for an agent to intervene speeds up the underwriting process.
Continuity Across Devices
Most travellers don’t buy insurance in one go. They start their insurance journey on one device and continue on another. Someone might begin a quote on their phone with some help from a family member and then switch to laptop to finalise the purchase If platforms are not able to support this kind of switches and flexibility, it can lead to frustration and drop offs. So, it is important to ensure a cross-device continuity, where quotes can be resumed easily to align with modern digital habits. Customers tend to appreciate not having to start from a scratch, whether the break between devise is five minutes to five days.
Quotes That Stay in Sync with Travel Plans
Let’s consider this, a customer reschedules a return flight, or a layover turns into and extended stay. The question is that does insurance cover them? Most platforms can’t adapt to these shifts unless the customer must proactively update the policy, which they might forget to do. A smarter quoting ecosystem can detect such changes by integrating with platforms like Tripit or Travello by detecting the location signals from mobile phones (with their consent, of course). This can also help to know if the customer is overstaying abroad beyond their insured return date.
Apart from this, syncing with calendar and ticket uploads can further align with the travelling plans, timely reminders to extend the policy, or if the destination becomes a high risk due to weather or public health concerns can be indicated through relevant upgrades like trip cancellation. One example is the app launched by AIG Canada, Travel Guard on demand. The app uses geolocation to activate insurance bases on travel status.
A Wallet Card and its Wearable version That Works in Real Emergencies
If a traveller ends up in a foreign emergency room, searching through inboxes for a PDF or calling a hotline to verify coverage is not very viable. This is why a physical wallet cards and a digital version for their smartphones can come in very handy. The card can include key policy information, emergency contact number and a scannable QR code that can connect hospitals to the insurers systems. This is especially useful for snowbird-heavy region where Canadian Travellers are common.
Another version of this can be done through smartwatch integration, for people who prefer tech on their wrist rather than in their pocket. By connection insurance information lie Apple watch or Fitbit, it is easier to carry the emergency medical data with them.
This feature can be integrated at the final quote stage where insurer can offer a digital wallet pass download and an optional physical cards dispatch. Post the purchase, activation for QR code and smart watch sync can be done through APIs, allowing information access easy from the device.
Built-In Super Visa Insurance
Sup visa program in Canada requires visitors, typically parents and grandparents of permanent residents to show a proof of at least $100,000 in medical insurance with one year validity. Due to incomplete and non-compliant coverage documentation many applications are either delayed or denied. If a platform is able to integrate a dedicated Super Visa option in the quoting flow, it helps insurers to easily auto fill the limits that is required, preset durations and create documents complied with IRCC. There is also room to support different language for first time applicants.
Leading with Intent: From Reactive to Responsive
Canadian MGAs and carriers have a real opportunity here, not just to improve conversion rates, but to lead with confidence in a space that has long been reactive and outdated. Personalisation will be the real differentiator here, where the travellers don’t just want coverage. They want to feel understood and an insurance journey that can adapt to age, trip type, and medical history and turn standard policies into tailored experiences. The tools are available. The demand is clear. What’s needed now is execution—with empathy, foresight, and design that respects the traveller’s reality.
Ardra Girish
Growth Specialist
