Traveler's knowledge, attitude, and practice about travel health insurance: A community-based questionnaire study

Background Travel, especially international travel, has become one of the most popular leisure activities in the world. The risk of accidents and travel-related illnesses, including infectious and non-communicable diseases, should not be neglected. To provide a more comprehensive pre-travel consultation to international travelers, this study aimed to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of travelers about travel health insurance. Methods This was a cross-sectional study. Anonymous structured questionnaires were distributed to 1000 visitors to the Taiwan International Travel Fair in May 2019. Results The top three important travel health insurances were accidental death and disablement insurance (92%), accidental medical reimbursement (90.4%), and 24-hour emergency assistance (89%). In addition to education level, travel-associated illness, and special activities during travel, a significant association was observed between the willingness to buy various travel health insurances and the willingness of pre-travel consultation. Conclusions Most travelers would buy travel health insurance; however, disproportional respondents understood the content of travel health insurance. Most travelers considered travel clinics to be the most reliable information source regarding travel health insurance. Therefore, travel medicine specialists are encouraged to offer more information about travel health insurance during pre-travel consultation.

Automated summary

Based on a study conducted on international travelers, it was found that most travelers are willing to purchase travel health insurance, but their understanding of the insurance coverage is insufficient. Travelers consider travel clinics as the most reliable source of information regarding travel health insurance.