Insurance of active and extreme types of tourism in Ukraine: current situation and prospects

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyze the modern state and problems of insurance of active recreation and extreme types of tourism in the market of insurance services of Ukraine and develop measures to improve them. The study used methods of comparison, analysis and synthesis, and the method of generalization. In order to rank insurance companies in accordance with their attractiveness to customers for insurance of active recreation and extreme tourism, the authors proposed criteria and developed their own methods of carrying out the estimation of the companies. The market for active and extreme tourism is developing quite rapidly. Tourists who prefer active and extreme recreation are a high-risk group, and tourist safety is a top priority and depends on quality insurance. The share of insurance companies in Ukraine going in for travel insurance is about 10% of their total. The conducted study of insurance services in the sphere of tourism indicates the following features of this market in Ukraine: the lack of insurance packages for active recreation and extreme tourism in the packages of individual companies; the lack of a unified regulatory approach to classification of tariff packages and the attribution to them of certain types of tourism; high cost of insurance services and the presence of restrictions in insurance of certain extreme types of tourism. The authors selected the criteria when ranking insurance companies in the extreme tourism insurance sector: availability of transparent policy programs to insure active recreation and extreme tourism, availability and adequacy of pricing policy, customer comments, economic indices of companies’ activities. One of the priority ways to develop insurance services in this sector is the introduction of European insurance practice for specialized types of active and extreme tourism through the activities of tourist clubs and associations that will attract a wide. The article for the first time analyzes in detail the problems of insurance of active recreation and extreme tourism in the market of insurance services of Ukraine, offers its own approaches to the methods of rating insurance companies in the field of active recreation and extreme tourism. The present international experience in providing similar insurance services is described and the ways of its implementation in Ukraine are considered. The practical significance of the obtained results is that the conducted assessment of the insurance market of active and extreme tourism can be used at different levels from local to national, in particular: when choosing travel insurance packages for both individuals and tour operators or travel agents; to improve insurance packages by insurance companies of Ukraine; public organizations, associations promoting the development of active and extreme tourism; to improve insurance policy at the state level.