11:21 - 22.01.2018

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January 22, Fineko/abc.az. The Association of Hotels & Restaurants (DAIR) is concerned with the lack of insurance of domestic tourists and holiday-makers, traveling around the country.

The Association reports that local tourists, as well as tourists going abroad, may encounter various hazards and force majeure situations.

"Despite that, insurance among local tourists is at quite a low level. Damage could be caused to health or property of the tourist during his traveling. Besides, inadvertently the tourist himself can cause damage to the third party and thereby he can create problems for himself and travel agencies, hotels, transport companies and other organizations which render services to the tourist. And insurance is one of the tools to minimize such risks,” DAIR said in a statement.

The Association’s recent research shows that country’s valid legislation, particularly the Law on Tourism and the Law on Insurance pay little attention to insurance during travel. Nothing at all is mentioned in those laws about local tourists and their traveling. The above-listed laws just say about the concept of insurance while travelling and that at the request of the tourist the travel agency should assist him with making an insurance policy for traveling.

"Chapter 50 of the Civil Code does not contain any articles concerning insurance during traveling. The new Bill on Tourism, whose adoption is expected in the near future, includes articles on tourists' safety and insurance of consumers of tourist services. The fresh bill, however, pays little attention to insurance of local tourists and sightseers," the Association said.

DAIR has applied to a range of insurance companies with the purpose of making proposals for insurance of local tourists. DAIR is sure that country’s leader insurance companies have in their portfolio the insurance services for tourists traveling abroad. And only few of them offer insurance of local tourists and holiday-makers. In other words, this kind of insurance service has not been developed by them and therefore such services are not enough in demand in the tourist market.

The Association and insurance broker SSB will jointly implement projects on professional services of insurance of local tourists and visitors during traveling. Also, consent was reached on creation of a tourism insurance portal.