When you are operating a tour, or shore excursion, you need insurance. Insurance protects you against liability from tourists should they get hurt or damage their property, and protects your business’ vehicular assets such as cars, buses, or watercraft.

Meet Local Requirements First

The first thing to look at is having sufficient insurance to meet legal requirements in your locale. This is the singular most important reason to insure. If you are not operating legally, not only are you rolling the dice with liability issues, but you run the risk of being shut down, and/or other businesses, such as cruise lines, not wanting to work with you.

Get Excursion Insurance to Grow Your Business Through Cruise Lines

Once you have met the legal minimum for coverage in your area, you will want to explore purchasing additional excursion insurance. While not all cruise lines require that you have this insurance, most will refuse to work with you if you do not have it. When cruise lines refuse to work with you, you’re missing out on an opportunity to scale your business and revenue in a huge way.

What Does Excursion Insurance Cover?

Excursion insurance covers three areas in excess of your current policies. General liability covers you if a tourist becomes injured or their property becomes damaged while on your tour. Contingent Auto liability covers any damage to your vehicle fleet, be it owned, hired, or non-owned. Watercraft liability works in the same way, except it covers motorized watercraft.

How Do I Get Excursion Insurance?

The first step to purchasing excursion insurance is to get a quote. In order to do so, you will need to fill out an application. You will be asked to provide information about your business in general, your employees, and what kind of training those employees receive. You should also be prepared to answer questions about waivers, sub-contractors, food, liquor, and current existing insurance coverage. Policies are generally quoted for $1M, $2M, or $5M in each area of coverage.

After you submit your application, you will receive a quote for a premium that you will pay for your selected coverage. You can either accept or deny that premium. Before accepting, make sure the policy has World Wide Jurisdiction so you will be covered no matter if an injured tourist files a lawsuit against you from Chicago to Hong Kong.

Doing the paperwork to obtain excursion insurance doesn’t just protect you from financial ruin should the unthinkable happen. It allows you to successfully work with the cruise lines, who are able to provide you with robust and regular business.