Do You Need Insurance For Just Providing Information To Tourists?
When it comes to the world of tourist attractions, spills, and thrills, there is a lot of money to be made. Not only is there money to be made with attractions, rides, and tickets, but there is money to be made for providing information about such things. That’s right, you might not realize it, but there are people out there that will pay good money for information about tourist attractions. Have you ever heard of a travel agent? Well, providing information to tourists is virtually the same kind of deal. While the world might be thrilling and lucrative, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t come without a lot of potential risks.
In fact, believe it or not, providing information to tourists might be riskier than you’d imagine. You’d really be surprised at all the potential lawsuits out there associated with providing information to tourists. What are they and how can you safeguard your business against such threats?
Understanding The Risks Of Providing Information To Tourists
Someone that provides information to outsiders is considered a travel agent. While it might not be one of the most well-known professions in the world, it is one with tons of potential. Potential for lucrative opportunities as well as the potential for excitement. You might not realize it, but travel agents are highly skilled individuals that work in the tourism industry, providing outsiders or unknowing individuals with information, advice, and tips. These individuals can be responsible for anything from booking hotel rooms to helping their clients find the best rates and deals on rental cars. Whatever the situation is, it’s an industry that comes attached with a lot of potential risks.
With a little bit of research, you’ll quickly discover that there are a variety of unique plans and policies that can help safeguard against the risks that you’ll face as a travel agent. That being said, it just wouldn’t be practical to invest in every policy out there. While this would safeguard your business against a variety of potential foreseeable and unforeseeable situations, it would likely cause you to end up spending more money than you bring in. As helpful and needed as it is, insurance is not cheap. This is especially true for the tourist industry. And, this is likely because of all the inherent risks associated with the profession.
All that aside, the best way to avoid buying policies that you’ll never use and spending more money than needed is by knowing your exact risks. What risks does your business face on a daily basis? What risks could result in lawsuits or medical expenses that might end up bankrupting you? These are the situations that you need to be able to protect your business against. The only problem is, you can’t unless you know the risks that you face.
Travel Delays And Canceled Trips
How many horror stories have you recently heard about travelers being held up at security checks for hours and hours? Heck, how many stories have you heard these days about people being denied travel because of the potential health risks associated with traveling to specific places? Whatever the circumstances, either of these situations could end up with a potential lawsuit. This would be especially true if you were in charge of providing travel information for someone on a business trip. What if you advise one of your clients to take a specific flight or book with a specific rental car company that causes them to be late for a huge meeting?
An incident that ended up losing them a major account? You can already likely imagine the financial consequences that your client would face. Well, who do you think that client is going to come after in these situations? You and your business of course. If you advise a client to book with a specific company and it results in them being late or missing an appointment entirely, they are going to blame you. Heck, if there is an accident on the runway that results in the flight being delayed, the client can blame you for recommending or suggesting that specific travel sector. Luckily, there are insurance policies that will protect you in these exact and similar situations. This is a policy you’ll certainly want to look into.
Lost Or Damaged Luggage
If you’ve heard horror stories about missed or canceled flights, you don’t need anyone telling you about potentially lost or damaged luggage. Whether it be a memento someone is buying for their grandchild or over the counter medication, if it gets lost or damaged during transit, the injured parties have the legal right to come after your travel agency. Whether the judge in this situation will award in the client’s defense in an entirely different situation, but there have been similar cases that have ended up in court.
While you might not be found at fault, the court-related expenses could rack up to the near thousands. These are expenses and charges that could result in some agencies shutting down for good. And, this is not to even mention the damage that it could do to their reputation. Regardless, it’s going to have negative consequences for your travel business. In some of these situations, just replacing the lost or damaged luggage is enough, but this isn’t always the case. Some people might not be satisfied with you simply covering the cost of their damaged or lost belongings.
Mental Or Physical Anguish
There is no denying that the above situations could cause anyone mental anguish. Even the mentally strongest of individuals would likely feel drained after being given the runaround at any airport. While this might be the case for many travelers, it would be even worse to see someone suffer from physical injuries. And, it happens all the time. Just look at all the stories that you hear about crashed air crafts. Heck, look at 9/11. A complete debacle that resulted in thousands of lawsuits. Lawsuits not only for airports but lawsuits for travel agents and information providers.
Booking someone for a flight that results in them suffering from physical harm could end up with your company facing major lawsuits. This is something you’ll want to avoid altogether. While this isn’t always possible, there are insurance plans and policies designed to protect you in these specific situations.
Damaged Reputations
You might not think that something as simple as advertising could result in a lawsuit that could cause you to close up shop. Well, think again because it’s happened before and it’ll likely happen again. The real trick is, making sure that it doesn’t happen to you, your employees, or your business. Luckily, you can do just that with the right insurance policies. General liability insurance or travel agent insurance usually includes a built-in policy that protects you in these specific situations, but regardless, this is something you’ll certainly want to be sure of.
If you advertise and say something like, “Travel with us, we’ll get you there safer, faster, or easier!”, it could result in a lawsuit. All an opposing travel agency has to do is claim slander. They could say that you specifically damaged their reputation and cost them business. Once again, they might be laughed out of court by some judges, but just the fact that the case made it to court means that you are spending unwanted money on court-related costs. The right insurance policies can help with these situations. Make sure that you invest in a liability policy that covers slander or defamation. This will protect you in these situations.
Work With Specific Insurers
As you can already likely see, travel agents and tourist information providers face all kinds of risks. Risks that you might not have even realized existed. Regardless, you have to know how to build and bundle policy that’ll protect you in all these situations under all these potential circumstances. The very best way to possibly do just this is by working with an insurance provider that understands your specific risks. While there are tons of reliable and quality insurance providers available, there are only so many that know and understand the unique risks that tourist information providing companies face. Work with one of these providers to build unique plans and policies that’ll protect your business for all things unforeseeable.
Disability Insurance
You biggest asset in life is your earning ability. If you are unable to work, you will need to rely on either your savings or borrow money to sustain your lifestyle. When these unfortunate circumstances occur, dependents and spouses are also impacted financially and emotionally.
Disability insurance coverage will provide you a monthly income benefit, usually totaling 70% to 80% of your income, when you are unable to work for a period of time due to injury or illness.
Types of disability insurance
- Long-Term Disability Insurance (LTD)
- Short-Term Disability Insurance
- Key Person Disability Insurance
- Self Employed Disability Insurance
- Mortgage Disability Insurance
- Temporary Disability Insurance
- Supplemental Disability Insurance
Need coverage in effect? Compare the market!
FAQ before purchasing liability insurance
- How much professional liability insurance do I need?
- How do I get a liability insurance policy?
- What does professional liability insurance cover?
- What is the difference between claims made & occurrence form of coverage?
- When will I need to be insured?
- What other professions need this type of insurance?
Other useful posts you should also read
- Canadian insurance companies that provide professional liability insurance
- How does the claims process work if I get sued because of my professional services?
- What is the cost of professional liability insurance?
- How do I apply for a professional liability insurance policy?
- How do I qualify for coverage as a professional service provider?
- What is the purpose of getting insured as a professional?
- How long will it take to get an insurance quote for my business?