Conceptual approaches to insurance of tourists, suggested in the draft law of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, were discussed at NCE “Atameken”

At the site of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs “Atameken” was held the presentation of conceptual approaches, suggested by the National Bank of Kazakhstan”, on transition to compulsory insurance of civil liability of tour operators and tourist agents and the insurance of a tourist.

The presentation was held by the Director of the Department of Insurance Supervision of the National Bank of Kazakhstan Zhanat Kurmanov. The discussion was attended by tourism industry associations, AFC, ASC, it was also attended by representatives of the Department of Tourism industry of MID RK.

As part of the draft law the National Bank of Kazakhstan "On amendments and additions to some legislative acts of Kazakhstan on insurance and insurance activities" proposed the abolition of compulsory insurance of civil liability of a tour operator and a travel agent and suggests the transition to the compulsory insurance of tourists.

During the presentation, Zhanat Kurmanov presented the current situation in the field of civil liability insurance of tour operators and travel agents: "Over the last several years, the Government partially resolved some issues of the tourism industry, but insurance is civil liability of tour operators and travel agents is considered an important issue addressed by the draft law. In this area we have accumulated a lot of problems that led to the fact that the liability insurance for tour operators as the tool actually does not work. As part of a new conceptual approach, we tried to look beyond, taking into account existing international experience. "During the presentation was also presented a comparative analysis of the existing and new insurance systems, the possible list of risks according to international experience, the proposed package insurance programs. A discussion was held after the presentation.

 Opening the discussion, the moderator of the meeting, Deputy Chairman of NCE Yuliya Yakupbaeva immediately asked: "We see that you have taken into account and shared risks. We are interested in whether the travelers are choosing certain types of insurance or they must acquire only a package? "
"The mandatory minimum package includes the main risks. A tourist can acquire voluntarily additional programs", - said the representative of the National Bank.

During the discussion of key market issues on the proposed conceptual approaches were voiced by the director of the Kazakhstani Tourist Association Raikhan Shaikenova: "Unfortunately, the trend is that our customer - tourist - increasingly goes online and makes an independent booking, Now, we will create an additional financial burden for a tourist and thus will contribute to the further abandonment of travel agencies services by tourists. The other question is how will the tour operator act in the case, if the tourist refuses to purchase any insurance? For example, for a family of 5 people, going on holiday, it will be expensive, now, no one wants to pay a lot of money ... For a tour operator – it will be compulsory to insure a tourist, but for a tourist himself - no. How should the tour operator act? Moreover, now many tourists already have various insurances (such as medical insurance or insurance attached to their bank cards, etc..) - What to do with them? There is also a certain contingent of business travelers, traveling abroad several times a year - they have to re-purchase the insurance package each time?”.

According to a representative on the National Bank: "When we made the calculations for the proposed insurance programs, we paid attention to ensure the availability of insurance products for the users. We will try to remove your fears. Minimum package of insurance will cost 1 USD a day. This is comparable to the product with which you are working now".
Inna Rey, President of the Association of Tour Operators of Kazakhstan voiced the position of the tour operators: "Why do we need packages that contain something that we already have? Your minimum package includes health insurance, whereas today all tour operators work with this segment. The risk of non-return of the tourist from abroad is insured by the Fund "Turistіk Kamkor". What we really need – is insurance against failure to depart, which many tourists want to buy, but insurance companies do not offer this kind of insurance. We propose to introduce the product (voluntary), which is calculated as a percentage of the cost of the tour".

Zhanat Kurmanov said: "We must consider the social aspect. Currently, the Government is not ready to completely cancel the travel insurance and therefore do not support the proposal for the complete abolition of compulsory insurance. With regard to voluntary insurance of products, for example, failure to depart, National Bank of RK does not regulate the voluntary insurance, it is only question of interest of insurance companies".
Yuliya Yakupbaeva: "Is it possible to revise the packages to avoid duplication of existing services? Yet to understand how we will insure those who did not leave? "
"We want as much as possible to avoid duplication and are ready to discuss. We will also send you a detailed risk map, you can add something or take away", - replied Zh. Kurmanov.
In conclusion, Yuliya Yakupbaeva asked as soon as possible representatives of tourist associations to make the risk map for the tourism industry. All proposals will be announced on 17^th of Feb. at a meeting of the main working group of the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan under the chairmanship of Deputy Chairman of the National Bank of Kazakhstan O. Smolyakov.