Anyone who puts together a package holiday is answerable in law for the performance of every element, including the flight, the transfer and the excursion someone else provides.
The calculator and the quote form below are in Dutch. Prefer to do this in English? Email info@finassverzekert. nl or call 072 - 509 24 56 and we will take it from there.
Work out for yourself what it would cost.
Enter your details; you will receive a proposal within one working day.
We compare the offerings of several insurers
An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
The package travel rules in Book 7 of the Dutch Civil Code place responsibility with the organiser. If something goes wrong with a local coach operator, a hotel or a diving school, the traveller holds you liable and not the provider. You can then seek recovery from that party, but the risk lies with you. This is where a tour organiser stands fundamentally differently from a pure intermediary.
If you act only as a travel agent and arrange individual services, your risk is a different one: the booking error. A wrong date, a misspelled name on a ticket, a missed visa or vaccination requirement or a change not passed on produces pure financial loss. That falls not under liability insurance for businesses but under professional indemnity cover.
Besides insurance there is a statutory obligation: taking part in a guarantee scheme in case you become insolvent. That is not insurance and does not cover your liability. It protects only the traveller's prepaid holiday price. See also public and employers' liability insurance and, for supervision on site, cover for guides.
The structure of the cover in three parts, with an overview per situation below.
The basics
Liability
AVB for property damage and injury, BAV for professional errors.
Damage to third parties
Employers' liability
Care, custody and control as an extension
Your business
Assets and continuity
Business contents, goods and lost turnover during downtime.
Business contents at replacement value as new
Goods at cost price
Business interruption or additional costs
If you employ people
Staff
Sickness absence, accidents and the traffic risk.
Continued pay for 104 weeks
Group personal accident
WEGAS for traffic risks
What is covered
Situation
AVB
BAV
Cyber
Injury to a visitor or customer
Yes
No
No
Damage to a client's property
Sometimes
No
No
Financial loss caused by an advisory or calculation error
No
Yes
No
Downtime after a ransomware attack
No
No
Yes
Data breach involving personal data
No
Sometimes
Yes
Damage to property in your care
No
No
No
This overview is general in nature and is not personal advice. What is actually covered, including exclusions, limits and the excess, is set out in the policy conditions and the insurance card (verzekeringskaart) of the insurer; you receive both before you take out cover. Taking out cover without advice? Then read what execution only means for you.
Where things go wrong in practice
Four points that make the difference between a policy that pays out and one that does not.
You answer for providers you do not employ
On a package holiday you are liable for performance by the service providers you engage. In law that ties in with Article 6:171 DCC on non-subordinates. If a traveller is injured on an excursion run by a local partner, that is your file. So record which safety and insurance certificates you requested from that partner and when you last checked them.
Booking errors are pure financial loss
A traveller who misses the plane because of a booking error has no injury and no damaged property. They have only lost money. A public and employers' liability policy covers only property damage and injury and leaves this type of loss out of account. For the administrative side of your work you need professional indemnity cover. The two policies do not cover the same event here.
The guarantee scheme is not liability cover
Membership of a guarantee fund is compulsory and protects the traveller against your insolvency: refunding the holiday price and repatriation. The fund pays nothing for injury, for a holiday that goes wrong or for a booking error. Do not confuse the two; insurers also take this distinction into account in underwriting and ask for proof of membership before issuing a policy.
The duty to inform about documents and health
You have to inform the traveller about passport, visa and health requirements for the destination. If that information is not given and the traveller is refused entry, the loss is your responsibility. Keep the information provided with each booking, including the date. Fines imposed on you by an airline or a border authority remain excluded on every policy as sanction.
What does your premium depend on?
Role: organiser or intermediary. Anyone putting package holidays together carries a heavier risk than someone who only resells individual services.
Number of travellers per year. The number of bookings is the usual rating basis, alongside or instead of turnover.
Destinations and type of travel. Adventure travel, mountain sports and diving carry a different injury risk from city breaks.
Your own guides or only local partners. Tour leaders travelling with the group bring their own employer's liability.
Professional indemnity included or not. Cover for booking errors and advice matters is priced separately.
Sum insured and excess per claim. Where several travellers are injured at once, the limit per event matters most.
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
How we arrange it
You request a quoteWe take stock of your activities, turnover and wishes.
We compareseveral insurers, on premium as well as conditions.
You receive a proposalWith an explanation of the differences and the exclusions.
We arrange the switchIncluding cancellation, so there is no gap in cover.
Customers rate our service on four aspects: personal service, service delivery, availability and the outcome. The reviews are collected and published by NH1816 and come from customers who have actually taken out a policy with Finass Advies B.V. or reported a claim.
Am I liable for an accident involving a local partner?
On a package holiday, in principle yes. The organiser answers for the performance of all elements of the trip, including those provided by third parties. You can then try to recover the loss from the provider, but as against the traveller you are the point of contact. So document how you selected and checked that partner.
Does the guarantee scheme replace insurance?
No. The guarantee scheme covers only the consequences of your own insolvency: refunding the prepaid holiday price and bringing travellers home. Liability for injury, property damage or a booking error falls entirely outside it. Both are needed, and insurers often ask for proof of membership of the guarantee fund before accepting the risk.
Why does the AVB not cover my booking error?
Public and employers' liability insurance is designed for damage to people and to property. A flight missed because of a wrong date produces only a financial disadvantage, with no injury or damage. That is called pure financial loss and is excluded on the AVB. For that category you take out professional indemnity insurance, with its own sum insured and excess.
Are cancellations due to a natural disaster covered?
Not on your liability policy. That only pays where you are liable for someone else's loss. In cases of force majeure such as an ash cloud or a storm there is no liability, but there is a duty to refund or assist under the package travel rules. That is a business risk you have to absorb contractually and with your liquidity.
Finass Verzekert is a trading name of Finass Advies B.V. We advise on and arrange non-life insurance on the basis of an objective analysis of several insurers, and receive commission for this from the insurer, which is included in the premium. You pay no separate advice fee. Before you take out cover, we establish your wishes and needs.
You will find our licence, KvK and Kifid details and our complaints procedure at the foot of every page.
