The start of the new millennium will go down in history as one of the worst times for people who plan events around the world. Hundreds of thousands of tourists had to cancel their trips because of a series of bad things that happened. Weddings, family gatherings, summer camps for kids, and thousands of business events and conventions had to be cancelled. Hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, and terrorist attacks not only caused a lot of direct damage, but they also hurt millions of people and businesses indirectly.
There is a lot of money lost as a result. Empty hotels, lost deposits, travel agencies with no money coming in, almost empty planes, lost money for wholesalers, organisers, and many people, etc., etc., etc. The losses are estimated to be in the billions of dollars (according to the publications of the numerous insurance companies).
This situation is not new to the insurance industry. Companies that write Travel Insurance with a Cancellation Fees Clause, Special Events Insurance with a Cancellation Fees Clause, and Political Coverage Insurance have all seen it before (many of which are state-owned organizations).
Even though this is a common scenario, the actual loss to the insurance industry is much less than the actual loss to the tourism industry, the people who had to cancel, and many other groups. Because of Awareness.
In the past 100 years, the world has seen a lot of things that should have taught people to protect their investments. Even though rates have been pretty low over the past few decades, most people who could have bought protection did not. "It won't happen to me" led millions of travellers all over the world to not buy travel insurance or to make sure that their coverage included a "Cancellation Clause." This made premium rates a little bit higher because the risk was spread out less than the potential. Most people who planned events, whether they were for personal or business reasons, didn't care about history and smiled when nothing happened and the event was over. No smile could help those who saw the risk come true.
The only thing that the insurance market can do is sell products. It can't buy them instead of the customers who are at risk. But it's important to make the general public more aware of what's going on in order to protect them better.
The big numbers seem far away from the person whose story is about his or her son or daughter's wedding reception and whose small deposits for the reception hall and the caterers are now lost. He could now save this money and make sure he can celebrate the event at a later time by spending an average of $100 more.
The small stories should warn you, the reader, either as a person or as an insurance broker or agent, so that you don't get caught without protection the next time.
