Ian Cameron, Chairman, ITIC

Happily, post-pandemic, all of our conferences around the world – the global and all the regional ones – have continued to grow.

As we are also constantly evolving the conferences to create more diverse and ultimately more complicated formats and agendas for our community, so too do the requirements we want from the locations and facilities become more demanding.

It may, therefore, come as no surprise to know how difficult it is to find cities and conference venues that can cater to our (exacting) standards and needs.

We spend hours, days, and weeks travelling. Flying from city to city, facility to facility… sometimes for nothing… but occasionally we strike gold. As most of our community know, travelling can be great fun, but it can also be exhausting and tedious. However, it is essential for making the ITIC conferences as best as they can be.

For 2025? Little will change, except perhaps how we utilise video technology. We are now able to do live video tours of facilities, with the local hotel teams answering questions as we do a virtual tour, before we decide to visit the location. Ultimately, this should cut down on the number of less productive visits and therefore the amount of time travelling.

It also means that our partners, children and dogs might recognise us when we get home… we can only hope.

Greg Lawson, Head of Travel Insurance, Collinson

Our biggest challenge after the last four years has been accurately forecasting sales revenue approaching a peak season of UK and US elections, Euro football, the Olympics and a climate conundrum where it is too wet in the UK and getting too hot in the Mediterranean.

We have worked hard to get this right so that our claims and assistance teams are resourced to support customers through the inevitable volatile summer peak travel period. This will allow us to focus on further developing our multilingual white-label sales and online claims platforms so they are in place for next year, supporting our ambition to grow in Europe.

We continue to work closely with our partners to evolve their products and build greater customer understanding of value, working on proactive customer digital support as well as traditional, more reactive claims and assistance. Reducing the operational friction this year has helped create the headspace to evolve our proposition and to be very positive for 2025.

Mandy Langfield, Director of Publishing, Voyageur Publishing & Events

For me there have been a couple of different aspects to 2024 that have made it more challenging – the first, returning to work not long after having a baby in 2023 and having to learn how to juggle my home and work life even more – especially with more travel taking place. Thank goodness for wonderful family and friends who enable me to leave home for a week at a time!

The second challenge has been switching my focus from ITIJ to ITIC, with more of my time being devoted to sourcing speakers for all five events we’ve held throughout the course of this year. I’m lucky enough to have been in this business for a long time, and as such have a wonderful and supportive network of professionals who are keen to support our conferences and share their expert insights with our audience.

One delightful problem I’ve been given is the significant number of people who email asking to be speakers – we are inundated with offers all the time, and identifying who would be a good fit for the topic, and region, is a finely tuned balancing act that takes care and attention to get right.

While some event managers think it’s okay to let people get on stage and simply give a sales pitch, we work extremely hard not to let this happen. None of our speakers have paid to appear at ITIC, and at no point will we accept this. Our audience has paid money in good faith to be part of valuable discussions and debates, not simply to listen to a salesperson give their best presentation! So, sometimes people might think that being a sponsor of the conference, or advertiser in ITIJ, automatically wins you a speaker slot – this is most definitely not the case!

I’m not going to change anything for 2025, to be honest – we’ve got a system that works for us, and I’m really enjoying my new conference responsibilities… and the occasional pool day in a sunny location doesn’t hurt either! All work and no play, after all, makes Mandy a very dull girl.

Brad Dance, Chief Customer Officer, TuGo 

In 2025, TuGo and other Canadian travel insurance companies may face several challenges as the travel landscape continues to evolve. Here are some of the key challenges:

Technological disruptions

Adoption of digital solutions: the rise of digital platforms and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven services could disrupt traditional models. Companies that fail to adopt new technologies for customer service, claims processing, and fraud detection may fall behind.

Cybersecurity threats: As insurance companies increasingly rely on digital systems, the risk of cyberattacks grows. Ensuring the protection of sensitive customer data will be crucial going forward.

Climate change and environmental risks: Increased natural disasters: climate change is likely to cause more frequent and severe weather events, including wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes and more, which could impact travel plans and increase claims. Companies may need to adjust premiums or coverages to account for these risks

Sustainability demands: consumers and regulators are starting to look for more sustainable practices in all industries, including insurance. Companies may need to demonstrate how they’re reducing their environmental impact and making sustainable changes within their businesses.

Economic factors

Inflation and rising costs: inflation could drive up the cost of medical care and travel, leading to higher claims costs. Insurers may need to adjust their pricing strategies along with product offerings to maintain profitability

Economic uncertainty: global economic instability could lead to fluctuations in travel demand, impacting the volume of policies sold.

Political and geopolitical risks

Geopolitical tensions: rising geopolitical tensions and conflicts could affect certain travel destinations, leading to increased claims for cancellations or disruptions

Visa and travel restrictions: changes in visa policies and travel restrictions due to political reasons could impact the demand for travel insurance.

Laura Hilton, Co-Founder, Fairmount International

Personalisation... we have all heard of personalised medicine (and even hyper-personalised medicine!), but for us at Fairmount International, personalisation has definitely been the theme for 2024, and we believe this trend will continue to evolve into 2025 and beyond. Next year will be a year for gathering and leveraging more data, more intelligence, and more expert contacts to help our clients identify and access the doctors and hospitals that best match their needs.

Clients want personally designed, custom-made, bespoke, curated (practically monogrammed!) healthcare solutions. They don’t want just any specialist, but one with a special clinical interest and a track record in their condition. The criteria may differ from client to client, but discerning patients want to leverage the power of expert guidance and data to choose the most appropriate doctors. Once the right doctor has been identified, clients feel confident they are on the path to the right diagnosis and most appropriate treatment. 

It’s not ‘one size fits all’ or even ‘one size fits most’. Although health system brands are still part of the decision-making equation for many, clients want to be empowered to choose their doctors based on more information – their clinical focus, their experience, their reputation among peers, their academic work, especially for complex or rare conditions. For 2025, Fairmount’s focus is on the value of finding the best possible healthcare fit for our clients.

Patrick Schomaker, Business Development Manager, Foyer Global Health

In 2024, the integration of Globality Health and Foyer Global Health in the Swiss market was a significant challenge. These two healthcare companies had distinct strengths and market presence in different parts of Switzerland.

Globality Health focused on international private medical insurance and had a strong presence in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. On the other hand, Foyer Global Health was more present in the French-speaking part of Switzerland and was mainly known for its supplementary health insurance for cross-border workers.

Bringing these companies together required understanding the unique dynamics of each region and developing a unified strategy that leveraged their strengths. It was crucial to harmonise the different approaches and cater to the diverse needs of the Swiss market.

Effective communication and collaboration between the Globality and Foyer Global Health teams were also essential. Bridging the language and cultural gaps was necessary to ensure a seamless integration and maximise synergies.

Looking ahead to 2025, this experience will shape the approach to the Swiss market. The goal is to develop tailored strategies that leverage the synergies between the offerings of Foyer Global Health and Globality Health.

By capitalising on the expertise and market presence of both companies, a stronger and more comprehensive healthcare solution can be created for a customer-centric approach in the Swiss market.

Rory O’Gara, Chief Operations Officer, Servisource

Business transformation was once a concept visited periodically over time, but Covid-19 offered opportunities to assess and transform. Now, more permanent changes have been made, with imbedded agile-led project management and innovation teams supporting continuous improvement to drive efficiencies while enhancing customer experience.

The challenge is to unravel processes, assessing them through an efficiency lens and rebuilding with a measurable commercial gain. There is also the need to build and normalise a culture of change so that efficiency gains are embraced at every opportunity.

This year has seen many advances in health monitoring digital technology that complements how our business cares for customers, living independently within a secure and remote monitoring model that complements professional and non-professional care-giving services.

Within the healthcare services sector, and specifically in Europe, compliance and regulation remains a key challenge as the industry is faced with many sequential deviations that must be understood, considered, implemented, and tested to the required standards. In October 2024, we will see the launch of the NIS2 European Union (EU) Directive on cybersecurity that provides legal measures to increase the overall level of cybersecurity mandated for businesses to adhere to.

In 2025, business will continue to navigate EU regulations challenges that need to be configured into our individual compliance frameworks. Businesses will also embrace AI integration to develop internal processes and client-facing platforms, more prevalent as we learn and understand the intricacies of AI machine-powered advancements. Mo Gawdat, ex Chief Business Officer with Google X, predicts that AI will be a staggering one billion times smarter than humans by 2045, so it’s fair to suggest that, today, AI is the slowest it will ever be!

Marc Banting, Chief Operating Officer, Voyageur Group

This year has been one of satisfying challenges as I became more familiar with my new role as Chief Operating Officer, and also with moderating more conferences on the regional circuit.

Travelling to regional destinations is by no means a challenge – it’s a privilege to be able to travel for work and meet up with old friends and new regional delegates and make new connections. The challenge for me in this arena is learning the nuances that come with differing regions and their cultural differences in business and attitudes to travellers. One size definitely does not fit all.

Due to my expanding workload and responsibilities, I took the decision to relinquish my day-to-day involvement in and running of the Group’s travel department, Voyageur24. Whilst I will still oversee it as part of my overall role, it did feel like a break-up, as it’s been in my veins since leaving school ‘a couple’ of years ago. And I will obviously still be representing the travel department at ITIC Global in Vienna.

I will be hosting the first part of the prestigious Farewell Dinner on Thursday – there are a lot of people to speak to, but there is nothing like a challenge at the end of a busy week at ITIC.

Looking ahead to 2025, there are some terrific destinations to look forward to and I will be in attendance at almost every conference next year, so there is much more to learn.

I am also looking forward to taking on as much knowledge as I can about the different elements that make up ‘Team Voyageur’ and getting a deeper understanding of contracting, marketing, and just how our many advertorials and advertisements get designed and onto the page. The year ahead is going to be a great one for my personal development and learning.

Julie Remmington, Director, Real Travel Assistance

For Real Travel Assistance, 2024 has been a great year, but it has seen our original business model turned on its head. Our remit has always been to support underwriters with their business travel, non-governmental organisation (NGO) and charity risks around the world, but with an emphasis on the conflict zones.

Whilst we have always also handled cases in the UK and Ireland for other assistance companies, 2024 has seen our volume of these types of cases increase to such a level that we made the decision to set up a separate division for inbound assistance. This has meant creating separate teams, processes and networks to meet all our clients’ requirements.

We have spent a great deal of time developing our UK and Ireland network to ensure we have the right providers in the right areas to offer cost-effective private medical care. We have found the clients we support are spending less time in the main tourist cities and exploring more remote areas that are not necessarily supported by private medical facilities. We have had to find alternative options to support these clients.

Mental health services have also been a challenge, especially in the student sector, as in the UK there is a shortage of providers or long waiting times.

Creating a dental network has also been challenging considering the severe shortage of dentists in the UK.

With our UK and Ireland division continuing to grow, we will need to ensure our network remains relevant for all our visiting clients.

Geoffroy Remond, Head of International Medical Network, AXA Partners

The end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024 have been a successful and challenging period for the AXA Partners international medical network team.

Our major challenges have included establishing a robust medical network in Asia and reorganising an expanded team following the new responsibility for this region. To succeed in this transition, it has been essential to consider several key aspects.

Firstly, understanding the specificities of the Asian market in terms of healthcare, regulations, and medical practices has been crucial. This has required adapting our existing strategies to meet the unique needs of this region.

Effective communication and change management have also been critical to integrating new team members and ensuring a smooth transition. We have been diligent in establishing clear processes, providing tailored training, and fostering a unified corporate culture despite geographical diversity.

We have been able to build a strong and reliable medical network in Asia thanks to the work of the AXA Partners local network managers, who have established trusting partnerships with local medical providers. They have met in person and visited most of these providers during our site audits, conducted on the ground with doctors from our medical team to strengthen the relationships with our strategic healthcare partners.

Looking ahead to 2025, we are committed to reinforcing our key partnerships, increasing the frequency of on-site audits, and continuing to enhance the network. These initiatives will further solidify our presence in the region and ensure the ongoing improvement of our services to meet the evolving needs of our clients and the local healthcare landscape.

Finally, flexibility and adaptability have been key qualities to navigate the challenges encountered during this period of team expansion. It has been necessary to remain open to feedback and adjust based on the specific needs of the Asian region and our clients.

Natalya Butakova, CEO, AP Companies

AP Companies has had a great and successful 2024 so far and we hope to exceed our expectations in terms of financial results and further development of our presence around the globe.

If I’m asked about challenges we have faced, I would like to mention one of them specifically and that is securing access to medical care for our members in general.

This sounds rather broad initially, but it impacts so many types and group members who we service.

Tourists tend to travel to more remote places – some are ‘unusual’ and ‘wild’ at times – not popular tourist destinations, and hence we have to catch up with those locations by expanding our networks to be able to assist in emergency medical care.

Seafarers happen to be hundreds of miles away from any medical provider at all (working at sea, for example), but they are entitled to the same level of care as their counterparts working onshore. So we are constantly working with our clients to secure that access-at-any-point of time or location with the help of telemedicine services, by developing detailed evacuation/repatriation plans for various medical conditions.

Servicing expats should have been easier, as they are mostly located within bigger cities in close proximity to medical providers, but it’s not that simple – while Covid-19 seems to be far behind us these days, still a number of healthcare systems are experiencing backlogs with planned surgeries, and specialist appointments can be months away. Some smaller medical providers who closed during the pandemic have actually never opened their doors again. We need to find alternative facilities for our members, and at times go an extra mile (or two) to secure quicker appointments than those standardly offered.

At AP Companies we strongly believe that accessibility of care is one of the primary tasks which we must deliver to our members, no matter what. We will continue to do so in 2025 by expanding our networks further to remote locations, by providing access to the most updated information on medical providers, by making prompt appointments, and so on. We take this challenge as an opportunity for further development in 2025.

Michael Camacho, President, CSI Brokers

Like many of you, I enjoy listening to podcasts during downtime, and recently heard one describing the differences between cynicism and scepticism which offers lessons for business. While the two terms are often used interchangeably, they are very different.

Among other things, cynicism implies that an individual has already formed an opinion and is waiting for evidence to support that point of view. It is a binary mode of thinking where one’s biases may prevent learning and accepting new ideas or concepts.  Conversely, sceptics wrestle with a desire for new evidence and information which allows them to update their points of view.

The conversation reminded me of the ‘integrative thinking’ model created by Roger Martin, in which we generate creative solutions by using elements of many different ideas instead of choosing one over the other.

In business, we should embrace and acknowledge our differences for greater collaboration. Less experienced colleagues may be more connected to culture, more open-minded about what could work, and not clouded by expected ways of doing things. More experienced colleagues may have a better understanding of process, can highlight key issues to consider, and have historical knowledge that can be just as positive as it is negative.

For 2025, let’s resolve to be sceptical.