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2025 Outstanding Value Travel Insurance Award Winners

Winners are listed alphabetically

2025 Outstanding Value Award
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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: International, Cruise and Seniors.

Canstar's Outstanding Value Awards Methodology

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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.

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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
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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

2026 Most Satisfied Customers Award Winner

2026 Most Satisfied Customers Award
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Travel Insurance

For our Travel Insurance Award, we asked 1014 Kiwis who had bought travel insurance in the past year to rate their satisfaction with their travel insurance providers across the following categories, listed in order of their importance to those in our survey:

  • Comprehensiveness: 33%
  • Value for money: 20%
  • Customer service: 17%
  • Communication:16%
  • Cost: 14%

Tower was the clear winner of our award, its customers awarding it the maximum possible score for satisfaction across three of our award categories – comprehensiveness of cover, value for money and cost – and close to perfect ratings for customer service and communication, setting it above the other eligible brands in our award survey.

Tower's award win goes hand-in-hand with its current Outstanding Value Travel Insurance Awards, across our Cruise Travel and Trans-Tasman categories.

Travellers surveyed: 1014 | Brands assessed: 23 | Brands shortlisted: 7

Canstar's Most Satisfied Customers Award Methodology

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

Canstar's Most Satisfied Customers Travel Insurance Awards recognise the brands that offer the best products, value and levels of service, based on the factors that matter most to consumers.

Unlike Canstar's expert awards, which are based on our research team's financial analysis, our Most Satisfied Awards are scored purely on feedback from New Zealand consumers.

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Which criteria are used to rate travel insurance providers?

Brand satisfaction is rated by respondents across the following criteria:

  • Communication
  • Comprehensiveness of Cover
  • Cost
  • Customer Service
  • Value for Money
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How do we determine the winner of our Most Satisfied Travel Insurance Award?

Kiwi travellers are asked to rate their satisfaction with their chosen insurance brand across the key ratings categories of each award.

A regression analysis is performed to determine how much each aspect contributes to overall satisfaction. Brands are then benchmarked on each aspect, with scores indexed against the top performer. The indexed scores are weighted according to their importance from the regression and combined to produce a total score for each brand.

The brand with the highest indexed score is awarded the Canstar Most Satisfied Customers Award.

To be considered for an award, a brand must receive at least 30 valid survey responses


Full methodology

Numbers Crunched

1014Kiwi travellers surveyed
23Travel agency brands assessed
7Brands shortlisted
1Award winner

About Canstar's 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.

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FAQs about Canstar's travel insurance awards

Canstar's Travel Insurance Star Ratings score travel insurance providers and their products. Each insurance product is assessed and scored for its price and array of features, and the best products receive our prestigious 5-Star Ratings.

For this year's Travel Insurance Star Ratings, our expert research panel compared 34 travel insurance products from 18 providers across four traveller profiles:

  • Single
  • Couple
  • Family
  • Mature Single

To be eligible for our ratings, each product has to meet certain basic requirements, including cover for:

  • $1 million overseas medical and hospital cover per international traveller
  • Repatriation and evacuation services
  • Luggage and personal effects
  • Cancellation fees and loss of deposit

For ease of comparison, the different insurance products are judged across three product types:

  • International (including trans-Tasman)
  • International Cruise
  • Domestic Cruise

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

To be eligible for an Outstanding Value Award, insurance providers have to meet extra policy requirements, above those required for a 5-Star rating. These include:

  • 24-hour emergency helpline
  • Period of cover automatically extends if a medical claim requires traveller to remain overseas for treatment
  • $5 million or more family overseas medical and hospital cover
  • $5 million or more family cover for repatriation and evacuation services
  • Cover for cancellation and medical claims arising from COVID-19 related events
  • Available to travellers aged over 70 (senior only)

Products from the following travel insurance providers were rated for Canstar's 2025 Travel Insurance Star Ratings:

  • 1Cover
  • Air New Zealand
  • Allianz Travel Insurance
  • American Express
  • AMI Insurance
  • AMP
  • Chubb Insurance
  • Cover-More Travel Insurance
  • Mighty Ape Travel Insurance
  • Mix & Match
  • Nib
  • Southern Cross Travel Insurance
  • State
  • TINZ
  • Tower
  • Webjet
  • World Nomads
  • Zoom

To qualify for our Most Satisfied Customers Award, a travel insurance brand must receive at least 30 responses in our consumer research, so not all brands available in the market are compared in our survey. The brands rated in our latest award survey are listed below in order of best overall satisfaction:

  • Southern Cross Travel Insurance
  • Air New Zealand
  • AMI
  • AA Insurance
  • Tower Limited
  • Cover-More Travel Insurance
  • House of Travel
  • State
  • 1Cover Direct Insurance

The travel insurance customers in our survey rate their satisfaction with their travel insurance providers from zero to ten, where zero is extremely dissatisfied and ten is extremely satisfied. Brand satisfaction is rated by respondents on the following criteria:

  • Overall Satisfaction: measures consumer satisfaction with a travel insurance provider as an individual score NOT a combined total of all criteria.
  • Communication: the insurer is proactive in keeping policy holders up-to-date and informed about their cover levels, and throughout any insurance claim.
  • Comprehensiveness of Cover: each policy offers a wide range of cover benefits that are in keeping with its cost.
  • Customer Service: the insurer delivers high levels of customer service throughout the insurance purchase journey, from onboarding and claims, through to cancellation or change of policy.
  • Cost: policy costs compare favourably with those of other travel insurance providers.
  • Value for Money: the travel insurer’s policies offer good value for money when comparing costs with levels of cover.

The winner is the travel insurance provider that receives the highest Overall Satisfaction rating once all the scores from the Overall Satisfaction criteria are combined and averaged.

  • Overall Satisfaction is asked as a specific question and represents an individual measure, not a combined total of all criteria.
  • When we cannot determine a clear winner from the criteria for the Overall Satisfaction rating, we will then look at the other criteria measured in the rating.
    • The provider with the highest number of five-star ratings within the supporting criteria will become the five-star recipient in overall satisfaction, and thus win the award. If a clear leader still cannot be determined from the supporting criteria, joint winners will be declared.

The outcomes reported in our ratings are measured via accredited research panels managed by Pureprofile.

Canstar's expert researchers review the overall value offered by a provider for its products in a financial services category. We consider metrics such as price and costs against features and functionality, with all of the competitors in a category compared using Canstar’s unique research methodology. The products or providers recognised as winners are those that offer the highest overall value proposition.

In addition to Canstar's Star Ratings that appear in our comparison tables, Canstar gives Outstanding Value Awards that identify providers with high-performing products. Separately, Canstar’s Customer Satisfaction Awards reveal how content customers are with a particular financial institution or insurance provider.

Canstar recognises financial institutions with annual Awards for outstanding value across a wide range of product categories. These Awards are given to the providers whose products are the strongest overall performers in our Star Ratings over the award period.

Canstar's Customer Satisfaction Awards are for providers, recognising institutions with the most satisfied customers overall based on consumer surveys.

Canstar compares over a thousand brands and products across multiple finance and household services categories, including banking, insurances, superannuation as well as energy and mobile. Each of Canstar’s Star Ratings and Awards uses a unique methodology that is brought together by our expert Research team, with products analysed based on price and features. You can find out more about how Canstar’s value-based rating system works.

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 Driven, Stuff 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.


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