Travel Insurance is more about peace of mind than protection.
- Travelers are shifting their focus for 2026 from fear to “peace of mind,” making travel insurance the year’s must-have accessory.
- From annual policies that save 40 percent to “cancel for any reason” upgrades, get expert strategies for protecting your trip investment.
- Find out why not everyone needs coverage (like trips to Grandma’s) and how to determine if your credit card perks are actually enough.
Insurance is peace of mind.
It’s not fear driving Harry Wenkert to make a “must-have” travel purchase for 2026. It’s peace of mind, he says.“I have a parent who is 94 years old and living in a long-term care facility,” says Wenkert, a retired pharmaceutical industry marketer from Pittsburgh. “I’m also concerned about having enough medical and evacuation insurance coverage.”
As travelers look to next year’s travel plans — spring break, summer vacations, and holiday trips (like Running with the Bulls) — they’re rethinking the way they handle risk. And for them, their must-have accessory is travel insurance with full medical coverage. They have seen what happened in the past there, and they don’t want a rerun.
Travel Insurance is more about peace of mind.
“In 2026, travel insurance today is less about fear and more about peace of mind,” explains Naresh Dahal.
He should know. He’s the operations manager at Everest Luxury Holidays, based in Kathmandu. His company designs high-end experiential travel across Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet, which carries some risks. He says almost all of his customers are buying travel insurance, “especially as they look at 2026.”
When you talk with experts, they say buy insurance.
Hang on. If you talk to the experts, they’ll tell you that everyone needs travel insurance or that you should get the same insurance, no matter where you’re going. But the truth is, some people don’t need insurance.
Wenkert, who is planning a trip to Ireland, is one of the travelers who does. He checks a lot of boxes, including health concerns and a high possibility he’ll have to cancel. He searched for a standard policy on Squaremouth.com and found one through Travel Insured International that covered everything he needed, including $100,000 in medical coverage and $500,000 in evacuation coverage. He paid $850 to cover himself and his wife.
“The more exotic and farther away we travel, the more emergency medical coverage we purchase,” he says.
Harry Wenkert isn’t buying travel insurance out of fear.
Harry Wenkert isn’t buying travel insurance out of fear; he’s buying it for peace of mind in 2026. With costs rising and risks evolving, travelers are rethinking how they protect their trips. We want to know your strategy.
- Do you buy travel insurance for every trip, or only for big international vacations?
- Have you ever switched to an annual travel insurance policy to save money, or do you stick to single-trip coverage?
- Are you willing to pay 10-12 percent more for a “Cancel For Any Reason” policy to have total flexibility?
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Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that empowers consumers to solve their problems and helps those who can’t. He’s the author of numerous books on consumer advocacy and writes three nationally syndicated columns. He also publishes the Elliott Report, a news site for consumers, and Elliott Confidential, a critically acclaimed newsletter about customer service. If you have a consumer problem you can’t solve, contact him directly through his advocacy website. You can also follow him on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn, or sign up for his daily newsletter.
