Canstar’s Best Value Travel Insurance NZ

Holidays promise carefree relaxation away from work pressures and domestic chores. However, plenty of unforeseen events can ruin the best-laid vacation plans, from illness and accidents to the loss or theft of possessions.

If the worst does happen, a dream holiday can turn into a financial nightmare, especially if you’re left facing bills for medical treatments overseas or for life-saving repatriation. This is why ensuring you have adequate insurance cover before you jet off or sail away on your overseas adventure is a travel essential.

But trying to find the best insurance cover can be complicated. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, as policy details and costs vary, depending on your age and choice of destination. And comparing different levels of cover and costs can be complicated.

But that’s where Canstar can help. As part of our mission to inform Kiwi consumers about the best financial products in the market, each year we analyse a wide range of travel insurance products and award the best providers our prestigious Outstanding Value Travel Insurance Awards and Star Ratings.

What are Canstar’s Travel Insurance Awards & Star Ratings?

Canstar’s Travel Insurance Star Ratings score travel insurance providers and their products. Each insurance product is assessed and scored for its price and array of features, and the best products receive our prestigious 5-Star Ratings.

For this year’s Travel Insurance Star Ratings, our expert research panel compared 40 travel insurance products from 16 providers across a range of different profiles:

Insurance providers assessed:

Insurance profiles: Single, Couple, Family, Mature Single.

To be eligible for our ratings, each product has to meet certain basic requirements, including cover for:

• $1 million overseas medical and hospital cover per international traveller
• Repatriation and evacuation services
• Luggage and personal effects
• Cancellation fees and loss of deposit

For ease of comparison, the different insurance products are judged across three product types:

• International (including trans-Tasman)
• International Cruise
• Domestic Cruise

Canstar’s Travel Insurance Awards

On the back of our Star Ratings research, we award the best travel insurance providers and products our prestigious Outstanding Value Travel Insurance Awards across four award profiles:

• International
• Trans-Tasman
• Cruise
• Seniors

To be eligible for an Outstanding Value Award, insurance providers have to meet extra policy requirements. These include:

• 24-hour emergency helpline
• Period of cover automatically extends if a medical claim requires traveller to remain overseas for treatment
• $5 million or more family overseas medical and hospital cover
• $5 million or more family cover for repatriation and evacuation services
• Cover for cancellation and medical claims arising from COVID-19 related events
• Available to travellers aged over 70 (senior only)

Canstar’s Outstanding Value Travel Insurance Award Winners 2024

This year, four providers earn Canstar’s Outstanding Value Travel Insurance Awards, across our four award categories.

Outstanding Value: International Travel Insurance

• Southern Cross Travel Insurance
• Tower

Outstanding Value: Trans-Tasman Travel Insurance

• AA Travel Insurance
• Air New Zealand
• Tower

Outstanding Value: Cruise Travel Insurance

• Southern Cross Travel Insurance
• Tower

Outstanding Value: Seniors Travel Insurance

• Southern Cross Travel Insurance
• Tower

AA Travel Insurance

AA Insurance picks up an Outstanding Value Award in our Trans-Tasman profile. Our research team notes that AA Insurance performs well on pricing, as it has reduced its premiums year-on-year under the single and mature single profiles, while maintaining strong product features.

Air New Zealand

Air New Zealand also wins a Trans-Tasman Outstanding Value Award. The insurance provider offers some of the most price competitive options in the market for travel to Australia across all consumer profiles, paired with strong levels of cover.

Southern Cross Travel Insurance

This year, Southern Cross wins three Outstanding Value Awards, across our Cruise, International and Seniors profiles.

This is the second year in a row that Southern Cross has taken home Canstar travel insurance awards, and our research panel notes that the insurer continues to offer some of the highest levels of cover at competitive prices across all international destinations, once again earning it our International and Seniors Awards. Our team notes that Southern Cross Travel Insurance performs particularly well in senior profiles, due to their competitive premiums for older travellers.

This year, Southern Cross also adds a Cruise Award to their tally, thanks to its competitive premiums and market-leading product features for both domestic and international cruises.

Tower

Building on its three award wins in 2023, this year Tower completes a clean sweep of our Outstanding Value Awards, earning awards across all profiles: Cruise, International, Seniors and Trans-Tasman.

Offering outstanding value across all profiles, Tower has maintained stable premiums in our awards analysis year-on-year, which when combined with the insurer’s wide level of cover, has strengthened Tower’s performance across all profiles.

To find out more about the best travel insurance in New Zealand, check out Canstar’s full 2024 travel insurance ratings.

Compare Travel Insurance with Canstar

About the author of this page

This report was written by Canstar’s Editor, Bruce Pitchers. Bruce has three decades’ experience as a journalist and has worked for major media companies in the UK and Australasia, including ACP, Bauer Media Group, Fairfax, Pacific Magazines, News Corp and TVNZ. Prior to Canstar, he worked as a freelancer, including for The Australian Financial Review, the NZ Financial Markets Authority, and for real estate companies on both sides of the Tasman.