CEO of the MORE Family Collection, Rob More, has started a petition against insurance companies that he believes are failing the tourism industry in South Africa.

On the petition page, More says the tourism sector is seeking immediate relief through a sensible compromise settlement of its business interruption claims with insurers and that because the sector was so hard hit by COVID-19, they cannot afford a lengthy court process.

“Our businesses were amongst the first and hardest hit, even before the virus arrived in South Africa, and will certainly be amongst the last to reopen to some semblance of normality,” explains More.

“After years of paying Business Interruption insurance with extensions covering infectious and notifiable diseases, insurers are now rejecting our claims.”

More argues that Business Interruption insurance exists to help companies survive an unanticipated event and that COVID-19 qualifies as a declared notifiable disease. However, local insurance companies are refusing their claims, saying that it is government regulations in respect of the lockdown that are the cause of the loss, not COVID-19.

“This is disingenuous, as it is clear that, without COVID-19, there would be no lockdown. This is our call to Insurers to settle our BI insurance claims on a compromise basis with haste so that we can stem the already devastating losses our industry has had to endure,” says More.

“If not, we call on South Africans to join us by re-evaluating their insurance providers.  The true test of a company’s ethics and values is how they treat their most vulnerable customers at their time of need.”