The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) has updated its sample liability waiver for travel agencies to reference State Department travel safety resources.
“As a benefit for members, we offer a sample waiver to help to limit agency legal liability,” an ASTA spokesperson tells Travel Agent. “This waiver establishes that clients were advised of important information. It covers things like the agent-supplier relationship, travel documents and IDs, airline bankruptcy, travel insurance and other important items. We recently updated it to make reference to the State Department resources the client should know about when considering whether or not to travel to a given destination. We’re here to help travel advisors succeed as business owners and advocates for their travelers and that’s why we developed this useful tool.”
The update comes not long after a newspaper article accused travel agents of not “sharing the risks” regarding travel to Mexico. The newspaper, which has been investigating Mexico travel safety for several months, published a new article sharing a number of tragic incidents in which tourists from the United States and Canada blacked out after drinking or were robbed, sexually assaulted or died at all-inclusive luxury resorts and tourist areas in Mexico. The report argues that travel agents should have informed clients of these potential risks under “duty to inform” or “duty to warn” case law, which establishes that purveyors of travel must inform clients about a variety of conditions in travel destinations or potentially be held liable.
In a follow-up interview with ASTA, the organization’s EVP of Advocacy, Eben Peck, told Travel Agent that “duty to warn” meant that travel agents should disclose information that is “material” to their clients’ travel plans.
“In our view, ‘material’ means information that if known to the client would be reasonably likely to influence the traveler's decision with respect to where, when, or how to travel,” Peck said at the time, noting that agents who do wish to make a specific disclosure concerning the recent reports should refer their clients to objective third-party sources of information, such as the State Department.
As part of a recent update to the way in which it presents travel safety information, the State Department has a system of travel advisories in which every country is assigned an advisory level ranging from Level 1 – Exercise Normal Precautions to Level 4 – Do Not Travel. Mexico is rated as Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution, the same rating as other popular tourist destinations such as the United Kingdom, France and Italy.
ASTA member agents can log in and download the sample waiver at www.asta.org.
Related Stories
State Department Updates Method for Issuing Travel Warnings
Security Increased Following Shooting on Cancun Tourist Beach
What a New EU Ruling on Airline Strikes Means for U.S. Travel Agents