WASHINGTON, DC — A bipartisan bill just introduced by U.S. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, would help restore communicable disease coverage to event cancellation insurance. Known as the Pandemic Risk Insurance Act (PRIA) of 2021, it has received support from leaders of the travel and events industry associations.
If the bill passes, insurers will be required to provide coverage for insured losses due to covered public health emergencies in all their property and casualty insurance policies. It will also require them to provide parametric non-damage business interruption coverage in their commercial property insurance policies, or to purchase such coverage through an affiliate or parametric insurance carrier. This coverage will be required to include compensation for up to 180 days of fixed expenses and wages for covered public health emergencies.
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Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance (ECA) Co-Chairs David Audrain, CEM, and David DuBois, CMP, CAE, FASAE, CTA, wrote a letter to Rep. Maloney in support of the bill, describing the long-term impact that the lack of communicable disease coverage has on trade show organizers. “With business event expenses starting to accrue a year or more in advance, many organizers, including small organizers and nonprofits, are unable to take on the risk of hosting uninsurable events. This disruption to the insurance market severely limits our industry’s ability to restart events and jobs,” Audrain and DuBois said.
Hervé Sedky, chair of the ECA board of directors, commended Maloney for his leadership, saying the bill would ensure the business events sector’s ability to host events in the future. “It would help us bring back jobs, accelerate our path to recovery, and support the countless small businesses that rely on face-to-face business events in the future,” Sedky said.
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Other business travel and events industry advocates echoed his sentiments. “PRIA’s coverage for event cancellations is especially critical to our association community whose lifeblood comes from in-person events of all sizes and scopes,” said Michelle Mason, FASAE, CAE, president and CEO of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).
Other business travel and events industry advocates echoed his sentiments. “PRIA’s coverage for event cancellations is especially critical to our association community, whose lifeblood comes from in-person events of all sizes and scopes,” said Michelle Mason, FASAE, CAE, president and CEO of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).
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“It’s clear that without significant reforms to the business interruption and event cancellation insurance markets, travel businesses won’t be able to get the kind of coverage they need to reduce economic uncertainty and build a stable path to recovery,” said Tori Barnes, executive vice president of public affairs and policy for the U.S. Travel Association. “The sooner we stabilize the pandemic insurance market, the sooner travel businesses can get back to business.”
Contact David Audrain at David@SISO.org; David DuBois at ddubois@iaee.com; Hervé Sedky at herve.sedky@emeraldx.com; Michelle Mason at mmason@asaecenter.org; Tory Barnes at tbarnes@ustravel.org