Outfitters and guides are included in SIC Code 7999, Amusement and Recreation Services, NEC. MarketStance provided information on certain classes within the SIC code that could be considered outfitters and guides. There are nearly 114,000 enterprises that generate almost $500,000,000 in premium.

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Wilderness adventures may sound exciting, but equipment and safety issues must be considered first when you are responsible for your family or any type of group travel. While the purchase price of the best equipment may be high, the cost of injury or death to someone who counts on you is considerably higher. For this reason alone, you turn to an outfitter or guide because of the value you place on others. They provide both the appropriate equipment needed for the adventure and the expertise needed to get to the best places as safely as possible. The riskier the adventure, the more you depend on these experts.

Here is an example that highlights some insurance-related issues that face guides and outfitters.

Gary takes his wife, their three children and three other children on a whitewater rafting adventure. He hires an outfitter to lead them to the best water and trusts him to provide the appropriate rafts and gear. The outfitter, realizing he cannot fit all eight persons on a single raft, arranges to split the group in two and hires another outfitter to guide the second raft. Gary and three children are on one raft and his wife and the other children are on the other. However, nobody notices that one of the children unfastens her life preserver because it is too hot. During the trip, the raft containing that child flips over and everyone winds up in the water. The life preservers on everyone else work perfectly but the little girl without one goes underwater. The outfitter quickly notices this and rescues her but the period of time she was without oxygen leaves her severely disabled.

Every outfitter or guide requires its guests to sign liability indemnity waiver forms. In the example above, Gary and his wife probably signed waivers for both themselves and for their children. The parents of the three other children would have also signed waivers. However, according to Mike Larkin, chief underwriting officer at Leisure/Sports Specialists, “Each state has a history of either upholding waiver and release forms or not enforcing them. Each state also has case law and statutes that guide how much of a defense is afforded by assumption of risk defenses. Finally, each state has its general legal climate.” This climate factors into the pricing and availability of coverage in a particular state.

General liability coverage for outfitters and guides is written on both admitted and nonadmitted paper, with limits of $1,000,000/$2,000,000 being common, according to Michael Dean, head of marketing and product development at Francis L. Dean & Associates. Lou Valentic, chief marketing officer at K&K Insurance Group, Inc., says, “Outfitters typically buy a $3,000,000 excess or umbrella over the $1,000,000 primary," but, according to Mr. Dean, that is often the biggest coverage gap for many outfitters and guides.

According to Mr. Larkin, another significant gap is the exclusion of injuries to athletic participants in many general liability policies. He says, “Any market that specializes in sports insurance should be able to address this critical coverage.” Mr. Valentic believes that participant accident medical insurance, rather than relying on the general liability coverage with underlying medical payments, is very important “because it can quickly pay participant’s medical bills which serves to reduce litigation.”

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