Orlando, Fla.—Despite the impact of Hurricane Irma, 2017 was a great year for the Florida Tourism Industry. Recent numbers revealed that our state one more time beat the previous year record by 3.6 percent.  

In 2016 Florida received around 112.4 million visitors, while in 2017 the number increased to 116.5 million. A report commissioned by VISIT FLORIDA, the company in charge of marketing and managing the state of Florida as a destination, also revealed the impact of Hurricane Irma in terms of loss of visitors. According to the report the hurricane cost the state 1.8 million visitors. 

These news were warmly received by the holders of the 1.4 million jobs

from hotels, transportation, restaurants, shops and many others that rely on our growing tourism industry. Florida remains competitive as a leading global destination. Visitors are not only enjoying our hotels and restaurants, they’re simultaneously boosting state and local revenues.

In the “no hurricane” counterfactual scenario, Florida would have hosted 36.7 million out-of-state visitors during the final four months of the year.

During that busy period for the tourism industry, VISIT FLORIDA estimates that a record 28.5 million visitors traveled to Florida in the fourth quarter which represents an increase of 5.5 percent over the same period last year.  

This Q4 number breaks down to 25.0 million domestic visitors, 2.8 million overseas visitors and 705,000 Canadian visitors coming to the Sunshine State. Total enplanements at Florida’s 18 major airports in Q4 2017 increased 6.7 percent over the same period the previous year, with 21.7 million passengers. 

Now that we have shared and cheered these fantastic news, perhaps we should talk a little bit about the types of insurance you must have if you are in the tourism industry in case that weather events or any other unanticipated activity does interrupt your business.

These are the 3 types of insurance you need to manage risks and protect your tour operation.

1. Assets & revenue

While the specifics will vary depending on the nature of your tour or activity, you need to take all areas into consideration. This refers to things like:

• Breakdown and damage of business assets (fires, burglary, general property, equipment breakdown). Your investment in equipment or property is put at great risk  when it is not insured.

• Business interruption (any interruption to the business which stops the business from making money, while you still have bills to pay.) It includes interruption through a key person’s illness or bad weather.

For example, if you own a kayaking tour operation and your premises catch fire and the building along with its contents were lost, you would lose money on bookings that would have to be cancelled, rent that still needed to be paid, staff wages and all of the other regular expenses. Your insurance policy would pay for the expenses of the business while you are unable to operate due to an insurable loss.

2. Liability

This type of insurance will free you from responsibility if someone gets hurt or their belongings are stolen while on your tour.

Most travel agents will refuse to resell your services unless you have public liability insurance as well as all the relevant permits for business.

Remember that if you work with a third party contractor, you will need to make sure that they have public liability insurance in place as well.

3. People

When you get a workers compensation insurance coverage for your employees your are protecting your business against costly compensation claims as a result of workplace accident or illness.

You, as a business owner, are not covered by workers compensation. If you own a sole operation, you can cover yourself for income protection in the case of accident and illness so you don’t lose revenue while you recover.

If you have more questions regarding what types of commercial insurance you must consider to protect your tourism operation do not hesitate to contact one of our courteous agents always ready to be of help.