The Untapped Opportunity in Online Travel Insurance

We are all traveling more these days, and online travel insurance is one of the biggest untapped opportunities riding along with that growth. The global tourism industry has been growing for the better part of 60 years, and 1.52 billion international tourists were recorded worldwide in 2025 alone, a 4% increase over 2024 and a new record for the industry, according to UN Tourism.

There are plenty of reasons for this growth, from social and economic factors to political and environmental ones, but none matter more than the emergence of the internet. It has given airlines, hotel companies, travel agents, and others a new way to reach customers directly, making travel more affordable and accessible.

As the industry matures, new opportunities are emerging to add value for customers. Online travel insurance at the point of payment is one of them, a win-win for travel platforms and insurers alike. Yet, it hasn’t been given the attention it deserves when it comes to improving the customer experience on these sites.

Travel booking has already made the leap online

Two decades ago, booking even a simple family vacation meant scouring travel brochures and manually comparing prices, locations, and facilities before a trip to the brick-and-mortar travel agent. If a traveler’s first choice was unavailable, that often meant a quick shift based on relatively limited information. Travelers were largely dependent on their local agent to get them the best deal, and flights were almost an afterthought, you took what you were given.

Today, all of this can be done from the comfort of a traveler’s own home. Alongside the rise of low-cost airlines and comparison sites, the web has empowered the modern traveler to take control of their own trip, connecting directly with airlines, hotels, and other service providers rather than working through a booking agent or a travel agent.

The numbers behind travel’s digital growth

This has unleashed a new era of accessibility for travelers, and profitability for the industry. International arrivals to OECD countries rose 8.1% in 2024 to 819.5 million, surpassing pre-pandemic levels, and the industry now accounts for 4.0% of GDP, 6.3% of employment, and 19.3% of service exports across OECD countries.

The good news for travel businesses is that there’s only one way for the industry to go, and that’s up. The web is a major factor in that shift, three-quarters of millennials have travel apps on their smartphones, compared with less than half, 47%, of non-millennials, according to Boston Consulting Group.

This gives travel platforms real opportunities to give customers a better experience, and there’s more growth still ahead.

Time for online travel insurance

As more people travel, there’s a growing appetite for travel insurance. The global travel insurance market is projected to expand from $36.0B in 2026 to $99.4B by 2033, a 15.6% compound annual growth rate, according to Grand View Research. Insurers and travel platforms that assume travel insurance is already a solved problem could miss where the real opportunity now sits, not in whether insurance is offered, but in how personalized it is.