Insurance Claims Africa (ICA) is calling on insurers to include larger tourism businesses in their interim relief payments.
IOL Travel reported in June that the tourism and hospitality sector faced an imminent sustainability crisis as insurance companies rejected claims related to the Covid-19 pandemic, for which many policyholders believe they are covered under their Business Interruption (BI) extension.
Since March 2020, when the Covid-19 outbreak occurred and the national lockdown was enforced, the industry suffered tremendous losses. Some were forced to close their doors permanently.
ICA revealed in a statement that it was shortsighted of the insurers to have excluded the larger businesses as it would negatively impact the thousands of people employed by these businesses.
The relief payments discussion follows a meeting with insurers, called by the Financial Services Conduct Authority (FSCA) and the Prudential Authority (PA) in July, in which the regulatory authorities expressed their concern over the treatment of insurance customers who have business interruption insurance with extensions for contagious, infectious or notifiable diseases, which insurers have been unwilling to honour.
Ryan Woolley, CEO of ICA, the public loss adjustment company that is representing over 700 businesses in the tourism and hospitality sector in their battle to get large insurers to pay out on these claims, welcomes any payment to businesses in the sector.
“Equally concerning is that larger business, who employ many thousands of people, and on who communities rely on for their survival, have been completely excluded. We call on the insurers to broaden their relief payments to include these businesses. Their exclusion is shortsighted and prejudicial to the individuals who work in this sector.”