Tourists offered compensation for bad air days

By Shi Jing (China Daily) Updated: 2014-03-19 01:09

Tourists will soon have the chance to be compensated financially if they encounter haze and smoggy days during their trips.

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China's largest online travel agency Ctrip.com International Ltd, together with Chinese insurance giant Ping An Insurance (Group) Co of China Ltd, started to sell haze travel insurance on Tuesday, the first travel service to exploit air quality in China.

Tourists who have booked packaged tours or backpack tours via Ctrip that last between three and seven days can all choose to buy haze insurance on the website. The insurance will be available to customers even during the most popular holidays such as Labor Day.

During the insurance period, so long as tourists stay in the designated city for at least two days during hazy weather, they will be able to file claims on their insurance. The premium is priced at 10 yuan ($1.60) or 15 yuan each, and the daily compensation limit is 50 yuan per person.

In this sense, a tourist can receive 350 yuan compensation at the most if he or she stays in the city for seven days and the weather report indicates pollution. The tourist can claim the compensation by providing an identity card, a compensation application form and an itinerary copy.

The first six cities chosen for the insurance are Beijing, Xi'an, Harbin, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Shanghai. Ctrip and Ping An are drawing up a second batch of cities and relevant products.

Ctrip told China Daily it chose the first six cities based on their popularity among tourists and the state of their weather. Standards for compensation vary between cities.