【Year-round Travel Insurance Comparison】 Which annual plan has the highest rating? When is the best time to buy to get the most value?

Many Hong Kongers enjoy traveling around the world. If you travel frequently, is buying annual travel insurance the best value? Which product has the higher rating? When is the best time to buy to get the most value, and what restrictions should you be aware of?

This time, 10Life analyzes seven higher-rated annual travel insurance plans on the market. The coverage scope is broadly the same as that of a single-trip travel insurance plan, and you can also choose the insured regions (Asia or Worldwide); the main differences lie in the coverage duration and the premium.  

Many Hong Kongers love traveling; they may fly several times a year. If every trip requires buying travel insurance each time, it's somewhat inconvenient. Buying annual travel insurance only requires one policy, and you'll be covered for travel for the entire year thereafter. However, before purchasing, consumers should consider not only convenience but also the coverage duration, in order to choose a suitable travel insurance.

If a single trip lasts longer, such as visiting relatives in Europe and the United States for nearly six months before returning to Hong Kong, it is more suitable to purchase a single-trip plan, because the coverage period generally lasts up to 180 days.

If there are multiple trips in a year, for example needing to frequently travel back and forth between Europe and the United States for multiple visits, an annual travel plan would be more suitable. The coverage duration limit for annual plans is generally 90 days.

Excluding the coverage duration, which annual travel insurance is better? As shown in Table 2, 10Life ranks seven products by rating (from high to low).

Based on Table 2, you can see the overall scores for seven annual travel insurance plans, and the overall score is composed of four categories: Medical & Emergency Support, Personal Property, Trip Disruption, and Personal Accident. For product rating details, refer to 10Life's Insurance Decoder.

In addition, premium is also one of the considerations for some consumers. Table 2 uses assumptions of a short trip (5-day trip to Japan) and a long trip (10-day trip to the United Kingdom) to calculate how many trips per year are needed to make purchasing annual travel insurance worthwhile. 

Taking Japan as the “home” for Hong Kong people (i.e., a short trip) as an example, for individual products’ annual travel insurance plans, traveling a certain number of times per year (for example, 6 to 10 trips) already pays off, better than buying single-trip travel insurance each time. Therefore, unless you travel very frequently every year, or need to visit relatives abroad, or travel on business overseas, buying single-trip travel insurance would be more cost-effective. Of course, the actual situation also depends on the number of trips the insured makes abroad and whether the trips are long-haul or short-haul. If you can plan next year’s outbound travel early, you can compare annual vs single-trip travel insurance to see which is more suitable to purchase.

In addition, among the six plans above, regardless of which coverage region you choose (Asia or Worldwide), the premium is the same—except that FWD may differ.

Finally, if you want to learn more about travel insurance products, instantly compare more than 60 travel insurance on the market, with detailed coverage and premiums clearly shown, and a dedicated actuary rating. In addition, you can also refer to our earlier articles:

1. 【Travel Insurance 2025】Actuaries help you compare 15 product coverages (with exclusive ratings)
2. 【Diving & Ski Insurance】 Does travel insurance cover high-risk activities? What should you pay attention to when buying? 
3. 【Travel Insurance 2025】 Compare Covid-19 coverage across 15 products
4. 【Travel Insurance Family Plan】 Is family travel insurance best value for a family? Is there any difference in coverage?
5. 【Travel Insurance】 Compare trip interruption coverage across 15 products; is flight delay coverage up to $5,000?

Most travel insurance available on the market generally requires purchase before the traveler departs in order to be covered. However, if a traveler only remembers after departure that they did not buy travel insurance, is there anything that can be done to remedy this?

If you want to purchase travel insurance on the spot during your trip, you may consider overseas insurance websites such as World Nomads, which allow you to complete the coverage online via mobile. However, the plan's premiums and coverage may not be ideal, but as a last resort when there is no other option, it remains a viable remedy.

Note:
The article's last updated date is November 26, 2025. 

This English version of this article has been generated by machine translation powered by AI. It is provided solely for reference purposes. In the event of any discrepancy or inconsistency between this translation and the original Chinese version, the Chinese version shall prevail.