2025 Outstanding Value Travel Insurance Award Winners

Winners are listed alphabetically

2025 Outstanding Value Award
award logo
InternationalSeniors

Canstar's research team awarded 1Cover its International and Seniors awards this year in recognition of 1Cover's outstanding value. Our researchers noted that across the two traveller categories, 1Cover offers competitive pricing with strong levels of insurance cover.

Medical and luggage protection are stand-out features of 1Cover's policies, and the standard inclusion of pre-existing medical conditions further enhances value, particularly for older travellers.

2025 Outstanding Value Award
award logo
Trans-Tasman

This is the second year in a row that Air New Zealand has won our Trans-Tasman Outstanding Value Award, due to it maintaining competitive pricing for travel to Australia across all the consumer profiles in our research.

Air NZ's insurance provides a high level of cover, with excess flexibility features, including a lower standard excess and a nil excess option, which are less common in the market and give travellers greater control over potential claims costs.

2025 Outstanding Value Award
award logo
CruiseInternationalSeniorsTrans-Tasman

Southern Cross has won our previous travel insurance awards on multiple occasions. However, this year it excels by earning a clean sweep of award wins across all our Outstanding Value Award categories.

Southern Cross maintains its International and Cruise awards by continuing to offer high levels of cover at competitive prices. Our research team noted that over the past year Southern Cross has offered strong premium reductions, particularly for couples and families travelling internationally or on cruises, which has strengthened their overall value and, this year, earned the insurer our Trans-Tasman Award.

Awarding Southern Cross its Seniors Award, our researchers again commended Southern Cross's premium reductions, particularly for seniors travel to the United Kingdom, Fiji and Australia.

2025 Outstanding Value Award
award logo
CruiseTrans-Tasman

Over the past year, Tower's pricing has remained stable, which has allowed it to retain its Trans-Tasman and Cruise Awards.

Our researchers noted that Tower's travel insurance cover includes a wide range of events and activities as standard. And as a mainstay of the NZ insurance industry, Tower offers a high level of support to its customers, including a wide selection of application options.

2025 Outstanding Value Award
award logo
CruiseInternationalSeniors

This is the first year that Zoom has been assessed for our Travel Insurance Awards ratings, and it debuts with a set of impressive 5-Star expert ratings across three of our award categories: InternationalCruise and Seniors.

Canstar's Outstanding Value Awards Methodology

Pie chart icon

How scores are calculated

Canstar's Travel Insurance Star Ratings use a sophisticated methodology to score travel insurance providers and products. Each insurance policy is assessed and scored for its price and cover levels. The best policies receive our prestigious awards.

Grid icon

Which travel insurance providers do we survey for our ratings?

For this year's Travel Insurance Awards, our expert research panel compared 34 travel insurance products from 18 providers across a range of traveller profiles and travel styles:

  • Traveller profiles: Couple, Family, Mature Single, Single
  • Travel styles: Cruise, International, Trans-Tasman, Senior
Trophy icon

How do we determine the winners of our Travel Insurance Awards?

On the back of our Star Ratings research, we award the best travel insurance providers and products our prestigious Outstanding Value Travel Insurance Awards across four award profiles: International, Trans-Tasman, Cruise, Seniors.

Full methodology

Numbers Crunched

18Providers assessed
4Traveller profiles considered
34Products rated
5Award-winning providers

2025 Most Satisfied Customers Award Winner

2025 Most Satisfied Customers Award
award logo
Travel Insurance

Of the nine travel insurance providers rated in our survey, Southern Cross was the standout brand. Across the six award categories, it earned five top 5-Star ratings, plus a great 4-Star rating for Cost, and was the only provider to achieve a 5-Star rating for Overall Satisfaction.

Southern Cross's award win goes hand-in-hand with its full set of Outstanding Value Travel Insurance Awards, across our Cruise Travel, International Travel, Seniors Insurance and Trans-Tasman categories.

Canstar's Most Satisfied Customers Award Methodology

Users Icon

What is Canstar's Most Satisfied Customers Travel Insurance Award?

Canstar's Most Satisfied Customers Travel Insurance Award recognises the insurance provider with the most satisfied customers, based on consumer surveys involving thousands of everyday Kiwis.

Travel insurance consumers rate their satisfaction with their travel agents from zero to ten, where zero is extremely dissatisfied and ten is extremely satisfied.

Star ratings icon

Which criteria are used to rate travel insurance providers?

Brand satisfaction is rated by respondents across the following criteria:

  • Overall Satisfaction
  • Communication
  • Cost
  • Cover Levels
  • Customer Service
  • Value for Money
Trophy icon

How do we determine the winner of our Most Satisfied Travel Insurance Award?

The winning brand receives the highest overall rating once all the scores from each category are combined and averaged.

Full methodology

Numbers Crunched

1412Kiwi travellers surveyed
17Travel agency brands assessed
9Brands shortlisted
1Award winner

About our latest Travel Insurance Awards

Canstar's Travel Insurance Awards are all about celebrating the companies delivering outstanding value travel insurance products to Kiwi consumers, and sharing our findings with globe-trotting New Zealanders. For the best-value travel insurance to provide peace of mind on your next adventure, refer to our list of award winners.

Head off overseas, worry-free

Compare cover levels and prices to find the right travel insurance for your next trip overseas.

Compare Travel Insurance

FAQs about Canstar's travel insurance awards

As Canstar's Group Manager, Research & Ratings, Josh Sale is responsible for the methodology behind Canstar's diverse suite of Star Ratings and Awards and leads the teams that deliver them. With a background in economics and finance and a Master's in data science, Josh has spent the past ten years building ratings that help connect consumers with the right product for them.
Josh is passionate about helping consumers get hands-on with their finances. Josh has been interviewed by media outlets such as the Australian Financial Review, news.com.au and Money Magazine.
You can follow Josh on LinkedIn, and Canstar on X and Facebook.


Bruce Pitchers is Canstar's NZ Editor. An experienced finance reporter, he has three decades’ experience as a journalist and has worked for major media companies in Australia, the UK and NZ, including ACP, Are Media, Bauer Media Group, Fairfax, Pacific Magazines, News Corp and TVNZ. As a freelancer, he has worked for The Australian Financial Review, the NZ Financial Markets Authority and major banks and investment companies on both sides of the Tasman.
In his role at Canstar, he has been a regular commentator in the NZ media, including on the DrivenStuff and One Roof websites, the NZ Herald, Radio NZ, and Newstalk ZB.
Away from Canstar, Bruce creates puzzles for magazines including Woman’s Day and New Idea. He is also the co-author of the murder-mystery puzzle book 5 Minute Murder.


Important Information

For those that love the detail

This advice is general and has not taken into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Consider whether this advice is right for you.