Minimizing Tour Operators' Exposure to Lawsuits

Abstract

Travel generally and group tours particularly have never been bigger businesses than they are today. But at the same time, never have tourists been more at risk for personal injury from a host of causes, including their own activities. To the tour operator, those risks can add up to a large potential liability if a guest is hurt during a tour. Potential liability arises from three sources. First, if the tour operator maintains control of (or actually owns) the vendor in whose care the guest is injured, the tour operator may be held liable. In most cases, the tour operator is merely packaging the services of independent third-party vendors, so control is rarely an issue. Second, if guests determine that the tour operator's descriptive brochures and collateral material created a false sense of security regarding the trip, those guests could then sue if they are hurt. Tour operators should therefore review their publications to ensure that they do not imply that the guest cannot be hurt while on the tour. Finally, if the tour operator is aware of potential danger in a given destination and fails to warn its customers of possible crime or other threat, that tour operator could be liable for any injury to the guest. As a closing note, tour operators must be aware of the variations in law in different countries. An action that would not be a tort, say, in the United States may be considered as such in another country.