In South Korea short-term small coverage insurance, like travel insurance, golf insurance and pet insurance, are becoming more popular, especially in the 20-39-year age group. This popularity is driven by low premiums and simple, mobile-mediated subscription processes.
According to a report by The Korea Times by end of June this year over 171,000 people had subscribed to ALICE, a small-coverage insurance platform operated by Lotte Insurance. Almost 50% of these new subscribers were in their 20s and 30s.
ALICE was launched in August 2023 and since then has increased the number of product types to 27 on its platform. The cumulative number of contracts has exceeded 360,000. The cumulative inflow of customers in these two years amounts to 6.36m. The platform has an average of 1,000 insurance contracts per day and more than 20,000 insurance contracts per month. Also popular is pet insurance offered by Carrot Insurance and Seoul Metro delay insurance offered by Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance.
The travellers’ insurance market has grown 19 times over the past three years, driven by pent-up post pandemic demand for overseas tourism. Over 1.73m subscribed to new travel insurance packages provided by nine non-life insurers in the first half of this year, up 32% compared to the same period last year. More than half of subscribers, or 54.6% were in their 20s and 30s, followed by those in their 40s (21%).
Domestic airports in South Korea also reported a steady increase in international flight passengers, with the total reaching close to 89m in 2024. The number of overseas travellers registered a record number of 46.02m at the close of June 2025.