Alexander Forbes - on line insurance advise for smaller tourism players

Helping small tourism operators manage big risk

Traditionally the big players in the tourism industry have been well catered for by risk assessment advisors.

“The risks faced by smaller operators, however, have been largely overlooked by the industry in South Africa”, says Mark Bush, Deputy Business Unit Manager, Light & Allied Industries at Alexander Forbes.

Most of the big tourist operators or product owners(who have hotels, resorts and fleets of busses along with a host of other physical assets) have formal risk identification and mitigation programmes in place. This is not, however, the case for smaller operators which have limited human resources,expertiseand capital for such ‘luxuries’.

Since the bulk of businesses in the tourism sector in South Africa are SMME-type businesses they are generally highly service and people intensive – as opposed to asset intensive.

Hence, “The primary risk in the tourist sector in South Africa is liability, not assets”, says Bush.

For example booking people on trains, planes, busses, jeeps, hot air balloons, horse riding safari’s, white water rafting and bungee jumping has the potential to generate a lot of liability if things go wrong.

“You just have to look at the shark-dive boat that capsized off Gansbaai recently for an indication of the extent of liability, across several operators, individuals and countries”, says Bush.

Furthermore, with can-do or highly entrepreneurial people thinking about risk or what can go wrong is often not front of mind.

Hence using expensive risk assessment advisers to identify compliance withSouth Africanrisk, health and safety legislationacross thousands of small and highly individualistic tourist operations is just not viable.

“As such Alexander Forbes developed the concept of a Risk Library,“ says Bush.

This web-based site allows smaller operators to find out what they need to do to identify and mitigate risk- and comply with legislation.

The Risk Library site empowers smaller operators to answer basic risk and cover questions like, Do you have an emergency response plan in place? If not, the site advises how to set up an emergency response plan plus the other steps required to ensure that the plan is effective and compliant with legislation.

Furthermore, the Risk Library provides the subscriber with a practical internal assessment tool as well as detailed standards across a number of risk disciplines while providing telephonic access to professional risk practitioners normally beyond the reach of smaller entities.

“This is a very inexpensive way of providing small tourism operators with the same intellectual capital traditionally only available to the bigger operators through expensive risk brokers”, says Bush.

Given that the biggest problem faced by small operators is the minefield of legislation that they need to understand and comply with, Risk Library is the ideal tool to empower small tourist operators to meet these regulatory challenges.

For example booking people on trains, planes, busses, jeeps, hot air balloons, horse riding safari’s, white water rafting and bungee jumping has the potential to generate a lot of liability if things go wrong.

“You just have to look at the shark-dive boat that capsized off Gansbaai recently for an indication of the extent of liability, across several operators, individuals and countries”, says Bush.

Furthermore, with can-do or highly entrepreneurial people thinking about risk or what can go wrong is often not front of mind.

Hence using expensive risk assessment advisers to identify compliance withSouth Africanrisk, health and safety legislationacross thousands of small and highly individualistic tourist operations is just not viable.

“As such Alexander Forbes developed the concept of a Risk Library,“ says Bush.

This web-based site allows smaller operators to find out what they need to do to identify and mitigate risk- and comply with legislation.

The Risk Library site empowers smaller operators to answer basic risk and cover questions like, Do you have an emergency response plan in place? If not, the site advises how to set up an emergency response plan plus the other steps required to ensure that the plan is effective and compliant with legislation.

Furthermore, the Risk Library provides the subscriber with a practical internal assessment tool as well as detailed standards across a number of risk disciplines while providing telephonic access to professional risk practitioners normally beyond the reach of smaller entities.

“This is a very inexpensive way of providing small tourism operators with the same intellectual capital traditionally only available to the bigger operators through expensive risk brokers”, says Bush.

Given that the biggest problem faced by small operators is the minefield of legislation that they need to understand and comply with, Risk Library is the ideal tool to empower small tourist operators to meet these regulatory challenges.

Hence, “The primary risk in the tourist sector in South Africa is liability, not assets”, says Bush.

For example booking people on trains, planes, busses, jeeps, hot air balloons, horse riding safari’s, white water rafting and bungee jumping has the potential to generate a lot of liability if things go wrong.

“You just have to look at the shark-dive boat that capsized off Gansbaai recently for an indication of the extent of liability, across several operators, individuals and countries”, says Bush.

Furthermore, with can-do or highly entrepreneurial people thinking about risk or what can go wrong is often not front of mind.

Hence using expensive risk assessment advisers to identify compliance withSouth Africanrisk, health and safety legislationacross thousands of small and highly individualistic tourist operations is just not viable.

“As such Alexander Forbes developed the concept of a Risk Library,“ says Bush.

This web-based site allows smaller operators to find out what they need to do to identify and mitigate risk- and comply with legislation.

The Risk Library site empowers smaller operators to answer basic risk and cover questions like, Do you have an emergency response plan in place? If not, the site advises how to set up an emergency response plan plus the other steps required to ensure that the plan is effective and compliant with legislation.

Furthermore, the Risk Library provides the subscriber with a practical internal assessment tool as well as detailed standards across a number of risk disciplines while providing telephonic access to professional risk practitioners normally beyond the reach of smaller entities.

“This is a very inexpensive way of providing small tourism operators with the same intellectual capital traditionally only available to the bigger operators through expensive risk brokers”, says Bush.

Given that the biggest problem faced by small operators is the minefield of legislation that they need to understand and comply with, Risk Library is the ideal tool to empower small tourist operators to meet these regulatory challenges.

For example booking people on trains, planes, busses, jeeps, hot air balloons, horse riding safari’s, white water rafting and bungee jumping has the potential to generate a lot of liability if things go wrong.

“You just have to look at the shark-dive boat that capsized off Gansbaai recently for an indication of the extent of liability, across several operators, individuals and countries”, says Bush.

Furthermore, with can-do or highly entrepreneurial people thinking about risk or what can go wrong is often not front of mind.

Hence using expensive risk assessment advisers to identify compliance withSouth Africanrisk, health and safety legislationacross thousands of small and highly individualistic tourist operations is just not viable.

“As such Alexander Forbes developed the concept of a Risk Library,“ says Bush.

This web-based site allows smaller operators to find out what they need to do to identify and mitigate risk- and comply with legislation.

The Risk Library site empowers smaller operators to answer basic risk and cover questions like, Do you have an emergency response plan in place? If not, the site advises how to set up an emergency response plan plus the other steps required to ensure that the plan is effective and compliant with legislation.

Furthermore, the Risk Library provides the subscriber with a practical internal assessment tool as well as detailed standards across a number of risk disciplines while providing telephonic access to professional risk practitioners normally beyond the reach of smaller entities.

“This is a very inexpensive way of providing small tourism operators with the same intellectual capital traditionally only available to the bigger operators through expensive risk brokers”, says Bush.

Given that the biggest problem faced by small operators is the minefield of legislation that they need to understand and comply with, Risk Library is the ideal tool to empower small tourist operators to meet these regulatory challenges.

Most of the big tourist operators or product owners(who have hotels, resorts and fleets of busses along with a host of other physical assets) have formal risk identification and mitigation programmes in place. This is not, however, the case for smaller operators which have limited human resources,expertiseand capital for such ‘luxuries’.

Since the bulk of businesses in the tourism sector in South Africa are SMME-type businesses they are generally highly service and people intensive – as opposed to asset intensive.

Hence, “The primary risk in the tourist sector in South Africa is liability, not assets”, says Bush.

For example booking people on trains, planes, busses, jeeps, hot air balloons, horse riding safari’s, white water rafting and bungee jumping has the potential to generate a lot of liability if things go wrong.

“You just have to look at the shark-dive boat that capsized off Gansbaai recently for an indication of the extent of liability, across several operators, individuals and countries”, says Bush.

Furthermore, with can-do or highly entrepreneurial people thinking about risk or what can go wrong is often not front of mind.

Hence using expensive risk assessment advisers to identify compliance withSouth Africanrisk, health and safety legislationacross thousands of small and highly individualistic tourist operations is just not viable.

“As such Alexander Forbes developed the concept of a Risk Library,“ says Bush.

This web-based site allows smaller operators to find out what they need to do to identify and mitigate risk- and comply with legislation.

The Risk Library site empowers smaller operators to answer basic risk and cover questions like, Do you have an emergency response plan in place? If not, the site advises how to set up an emergency response plan plus the other steps required to ensure that the plan is effective and compliant with legislation.

Furthermore, the Risk Library provides the subscriber with a practical internal assessment tool as well as detailed standards across a number of risk disciplines while providing telephonic access to professional risk practitioners normally beyond the reach of smaller entities.

“This is a very inexpensive way of providing small tourism operators with the same intellectual capital traditionally only available to the bigger operators through expensive risk brokers”, says Bush.

Given that the biggest problem faced by small operators is the minefield of legislation that they need to understand and comply with, Risk Library is the ideal tool to empower small tourist operators to meet these regulatory challenges.

For example booking people on trains, planes, busses, jeeps, hot air balloons, horse riding safari’s, white water rafting and bungee jumping has the potential to generate a lot of liability if things go wrong.

“You just have to look at the shark-dive boat that capsized off Gansbaai recently for an indication of the extent of liability, across several operators, individuals and countries”, says Bush.

Furthermore, with can-do or highly entrepreneurial people thinking about risk or what can go wrong is often not front of mind.

Hence using expensive risk assessment advisers to identify compliance withSouth Africanrisk, health and safety legislationacross thousands of small and highly individualistic tourist operations is just not viable.

“As such Alexander Forbes developed the concept of a Risk Library,“ says Bush.

This web-based site allows smaller operators to find out what they need to do to identify and mitigate risk- and comply with legislation.

The Risk Library site empowers smaller operators to answer basic risk and cover questions like, Do you have an emergency response plan in place? If not, the site advises how to set up an emergency response plan plus the other steps required to ensure that the plan is effective and compliant with legislation.

Furthermore, the Risk Library provides the subscriber with a practical internal assessment tool as well as detailed standards across a number of risk disciplines while providing telephonic access to professional risk practitioners normally beyond the reach of smaller entities.

“This is a very inexpensive way of providing small tourism operators with the same intellectual capital traditionally only available to the bigger operators through expensive risk brokers”, says Bush.

Given that the biggest problem faced by small operators is the minefield of legislation that they need to understand and comply with, Risk Library is the ideal tool to empower small tourist operators to meet these regulatory challenges.

Hence, “The primary risk in the tourist sector in South Africa is liability, not assets”, says Bush.

For example booking people on trains, planes, busses, jeeps, hot air balloons, horse riding safari’s, white water rafting and bungee jumping has the potential to generate a lot of liability if things go wrong.

“You just have to look at the shark-dive boat that capsized off Gansbaai recently for an indication of the extent of liability, across several operators, individuals and countries”, says Bush.

Furthermore, with can-do or highly entrepreneurial people thinking about risk or what can go wrong is often not front of mind.

Hence using expensive risk assessment advisers to identify compliance withSouth Africanrisk, health and safety legislationacross thousands of small and highly individualistic tourist operations is just not viable.

“As such Alexander Forbes developed the concept of a Risk Library,“ says Bush.

This web-based site allows smaller operators to find out what they need to do to identify and mitigate risk- and comply with legislation.

The Risk Library site empowers smaller operators to answer basic risk and cover questions like, Do you have an emergency response plan in place? If not, the site advises how to set up an emergency response plan plus the other steps required to ensure that the plan is effective and compliant with legislation.

Furthermore, the Risk Library provides the subscriber with a practical internal assessment tool as well as detailed standards across a number of risk disciplines while providing telephonic access to professional risk practitioners normally beyond the reach of smaller entities.

“This is a very inexpensive way of providing small tourism operators with the same intellectual capital traditionally only available to the bigger operators through expensive risk brokers”, says Bush.

Given that the biggest problem faced by small operators is the minefield of legislation that they need to understand and comply with, Risk Library is the ideal tool to empower small tourist operators to meet these regulatory challenges.

For example booking people on trains, planes, busses, jeeps, hot air balloons, horse riding safari’s, white water rafting and bungee jumping has the potential to generate a lot of liability if things go wrong.

“You just have to look at the shark-dive boat that capsized off Gansbaai recently for an indication of the extent of liability, across several operators, individuals and countries”, says Bush.

Furthermore, with can-do or highly entrepreneurial people thinking about risk or what can go wrong is often not front of mind.

Hence using expensive risk assessment advisers to identify compliance withSouth Africanrisk, health and safety legislationacross thousands of small and highly individualistic tourist operations is just not viable.

“As such Alexander Forbes developed the concept of a Risk Library,“ says Bush.

This web-based site allows smaller operators to find out what they need to do to identify and mitigate risk- and comply with legislation.

The Risk Library site empowers smaller operators to answer basic risk and cover questions like, Do you have an emergency response plan in place? If not, the site advises how to set up an emergency response plan plus the other steps required to ensure that the plan is effective and compliant with legislation.

Furthermore, the Risk Library provides the subscriber with a practical internal assessment tool as well as detailed standards across a number of risk disciplines while providing telephonic access to professional risk practitioners normally beyond the reach of smaller entities.

“This is a very inexpensive way of providing small tourism operators with the same intellectual capital traditionally only available to the bigger operators through expensive risk brokers”, says Bush.

Given that the biggest problem faced by small operators is the minefield of legislation that they need to understand and comply with, Risk Library is the ideal tool to empower small tourist operators to meet these regulatory challenges.