HAIKOU /China/, October 24. /TASS/. The Hainan branch of Sunshine Property and Casualty Insurance Company Limited has issued the first deposit insurance policy to Hainan Kaisheng travel agency to ensure the quality of services.
It is the first insurance policy issued to a national travel agency to replace the tourism service quality deposit previously paid by agencies, HICN news agency reported.
According to this insurance plan, travel agencies are now able to pay only part of the cost of insurance. The remaining costs will be borne by the insurance company, which will share the risks of quality assurance to improve the quality of customer service for travel companies.
The program, initiated by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China, was approved in Hainan in July this year and was launched in a pilot mode on October 8. It provides insurance policies for deposits allocated by travel agencies to ensure the quality of tourism services.
So far seven insurance companies have received applications to apply of the policy from 89 travel agencies, 17 of which have already received the appropriate insurance package.
Under the current regulations, the total volume of the deposit for quality assurance of travel services for Hainan’s travel agencies operating exceeds 190 million yuan (about $30 million). New insurance policies will allow agencies to annually pay only about 3.8 million yuan (about $ 600 thousand). Thus, more share holder capital will be invested in further development of tourism in the southern Chinese province.