We get it, insurance is boring. But the only thing worse than boredom is desperation. Which is what will happen to you if you’re struck by some kind of misfortune when you aren’t covered by insurance.
Every business faces some sort of risk, but you will also face additional risks unique to tour operators. Running your business without the proper insurance is like using a museum as a cat shelter, It’s a disaster waiting to happen. Yes, cats break things. I would know.
Imagine having to cancel your tour because of a flat tire or bad weather? If you run large tours this would be horrible. What I’m saying is you need insurance. Here are the 6 most important types of insurance for a tour operator:
1. General Public Liability Insurance
This insurance protects you against damage to third-party property and bodily injury. For example, if your tour driver were to crash into someone’s property or even a pedestrian. If you didn’t already know, thanks to inflation, houses and hospital bills are two of the most expensive things on Earth.
This is without a doubt one of the most important types of insurance for a tour operator. Without this insurance, most travel agents wouldn’t even work with your tour operation.
2. Workers Compensation Insurance
Running your tours and activities business is hard work. More than likely you’ve either got a couple of people working for you, or you’re a very hard-working person, in which case, kudos to you. However, if you do have people working for you, what happens if they get injured on the job.
Anyone could trip on a cord and hurt themselves. If you didn’t have insurance, in a situation like that, what would you do if your employee makes a costly compensation claim against you?
3. Commercial Crime Insurance
We know you trust your workers and we don’t want to speak ill of them. But statistically speaking, plenty of employees steal from their employers. Imagine waking up one day and realizing that your employee has been stealing thousands from you. For some tour operators, that could make or break their business.
This type of insurance covers you against any financial losses due to an employee’s theft or other misdeeds.
4. Cyber Liability Insurance
If you sell your tours online, you should be wary of this very annoying group of people called ‘hackers’. These guys take advantage of the vulnerabilities in online systems to steal your clients’ personal information including payment information. Using a good booking system like Rezdy that’s always on top of data security standards is a great way to mitigate this risk. However, in the case that your system is hacked, this insurance will help manage and mitigate the costs associated with it.
5. Commercial Property Insurance
It doesn’t matter where you operate. There’s always a risk that your property will be damaged. If you operate by the beach, there’s always a chance of a flood or tsunami. If you operate in the city, there’s a possibility of fires or theft. No matter where you are, you need to protect your property so you can deal with any of these unforeseen costs. It’s unfortunate, but these things do happen.
6. Business Interruption Insurance
The situations mentioned above may also cause you to close down your business for a period of time. During this time, there will undoubtedly be revenue lost. I’m sure you don’t want to go back to the unemployment days! This insurance will protect you against such losses.
Bad things happen all the time. It’s only the start of 2020 and we’re dealing with massive fires and viral pandemics across the world. Sure, you may be lucky and you may not be affected. But do you want to take that chance knowing the unexpected could cost you your business? Protect your business today. We’ve been told hundreds of times in high school, use protection.
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