Attractions are visited around the world and have their own unique draw cards that often bring tourists on mass e.g. Cape Town Cableway, Gold Reef City or Ushaka Marine World. High volumes and seasonal spikes bring unique risk considerations and when disaster strikes it is imperative that you have a plan in place.
Like any other business you need your own risk transfer/ management solutions starting with insurance covers covering your standard assets covers and business interruption covers to what one would expect to be bespoke liability covers and incident management plans that are designed to respond to any eventuality within your operating environment.
The exposure one would face operating guided walks through an underground cave system are different to what visitors would face on a tour through SeaWorld or watching a dolphin show or taking a trip on a cableway. These separate “risks” as we call them need to be individually understood and communicated to insurers who would then decide whether they accept the risk and provide cover.
But it starts with asking the right questions to uncover the “risk”. It is vital that attractions engage with specialist brokers and incident managers who understand their needs and who have worked with insurers and response providers who design bespoke products that meet their needs.
Potentially the greatest exposure is that of managing incidents. Incidents happen, but it is how you deal with them that is very important. Social media has had a massive impact on reputational damage and bar just being the right thing to do, managing incidents professionally is vital to protect your brand from adverse publicity. We’d rather receive a thank you letter than a lawyer’s letter, so again it is vital to connect with specialists who deal with incidents daily, who can navigate the minefield of exposures to ensure the best outcome.
Wide of emergency medical injuries and personal injuries, attractions are also exposed to missing people (especially children), assaults, robberies, hostage situations, terrorism, political unrest, active shooters and similarly awful situations. They cannot expect staff to handle these emergencies and they should be connecting with Incident Management Centres like SATIB24 Crisis Call to transfer the management of these to experts.
SATIB24 provide remote telemedical and or security related advice while activating appropriate resources, managing rescue staff, planning evacuations if necessary and consulting with media management, crisis communications experts and legal teams. By doing this they would professionalise their service and limit their own liability during the management of any incident.
What typically defines an attraction?
- Forests, national parks and reserves of flora and fauna
- Communities of different ethnicity
- Constructions, structures and historical places (prisons, libraries, castles, bridges, skyscrapers)
- Cultural and sports events
- Public art
- Art galleries and museums
- Botanical gardens and zoos
- Monuments
- Theme parks
- Historical trains and ships
- Viewpoints
