Austrade and Griffith University are co-funding research into improving public liability insurance for Australian visitor experiences. You are invited to participate in a 10-minute survey to share the impacts of insurance challenges and your views on actions to improve insurance for the visitor economy. International education is a key contributor to this sector.
The survey is available at this link: https://griffithuw.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_7QXz30daQ2lCs5g
As part of THRIVE 2030 national visitor economy strategy for Australia, the architecture of insurance for the visitor economy is being researched to identify possible actions to improve insurance for visitor experience providers. Research so far has highlighted some factors such as risk management and reporting can be addressed by individual businesses, but most factors inflating the cost of insurance are externally driven, cannot easily be controlled and are difficult to mitigate.
External factors noted as driving the cost of insurance globally include climate change, which is amplifying the cost and frequency of natural perils, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the potential for future incidence.
For Australia specifically, the cost-of-living crisis following COVID-19 was noted as exacerbating the issue for domestic tourism providers. Economic conditions at the time of interview, meant that businesses had limited capability to pass-on or absorb higher insurance costs and were more likely to cite insurance increases as hampering their operational capacity. Sectors of the visitor economy most impacted by insurance challenges include caravan parks, venues, music events and festivals, attractions, adventure tourism, amusement rides and agritourism.
To quantify the impact of insurance challenges on the visitor economy and gauge opinions on the range of actions suggested to address insurance affordability, businesses are invited to participate in the industry survey.
This research is being implemented by PhD scholar Fiona Antonucci and supervised by Professor Sarah Gardiner, Director of Griffith Institute for Tourism, Professor Basak Denizci Guillet, Griffith University professor for revenue management in hospitality and tourism and Professor George Verikios, CSIRO economist.
The insights businesses provide by participating in the survey will inform the development of papers submitted by Griffith University to industry partner Austrade and publications within reputable academic journals that propose actions and innovations to improve public liability insurance availability and affordability for Australia’s visitor economy.
This article has been provided by the researchers, with minor content changes made by Tracy Harris for readability. Questions regarding the research should be directed to Fiona Antonucci, fiona.antonucci@griffithuni.edu.au.
