The 2025 Travel Insurance Survey, conducted for the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Insurance Council of Australia, polled 1,001 Australians to understand their travel safety practices.

The findings revealed that among young travelers aged 18 to 25, 10% opted to travel without insurance due to financial constraints.

The study also highlighted that individuals from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds were more prone to forgo insurance, with 23% of those born overseas traveling without coverage on their latest international journey.

Additionally, more than a quarter of participants (27%) felt that travel insurance did not offer good value, while nearly a quarter (24%) simply overlooked it or did not consider it necessary.

Further reasons included uncertainty about the necessity of insurance (22%), believing they could manage potential emergency costs independently (22%), and the brevity of their trips (20%).

More than one in four (27 per cent) didn’t think it was good value for money, and nearly a quarter (24 per cent) simply didn’t think of it or it didn’t cross their mind.

Other reasons included not being sure if it was needed (22 per cent), being confident they could cover any emergency costs out-of-pocket (22 per cent), and going on a very short trip (20 per cent).

Do you need to buy travel insurance?

“You must take responsibility for your situation when you travel. This includes your finances. Consular services are not a ‘backup plan’ if things go wrong and you need money. We expect all Australians travelling overseas to take out appropriate insurance for their trip.”

What else did the survey find?

Forty-six per cent of travellers said they either had or would personally consider travelling overseas for a medical procedure, most commonly dental care (30 per cent). Nearly seven in 10 of those who said they would consider it nominated lower cost of treatment as a motivation.