Skiathos, Greece. Photograph: Alamy
What has been the impact on tourism of recent events in Greece, Tunisia and France, and what should you do if planning a holiday to or via those places?
Greece
Tour operators are not currently offering people the chance of a refund or to postpone pre-booked holidays to Greece, as the FCO advice regarding the country has not changed. Travel companies are encouraging holidaymakers to go ahead with their trips as planned, saying there will be very little effect on them, and that it’s business as usual in the country’s holiday resorts.
Travellers should take enough cash with them to cover all costs, and not rely on ATMs. Although the €60 ATM withdrawal limit is restricted to Greek residents only and ATMs are functioning, there are mixed reports of cash availability.
Some operators advised taking at least two forms of payment, such as travellers’ cheques or pre-loaded cash cards, as well as credit and debit cards (which are still being accepted).
A few operators are providing special services to reassure and aid travellers.Olympic Holidays and Ionian Holidays are letting people buy cash directly from resort reps using their credit or debit cards. Sunvil said it could make cash available if necessary, and sailing holiday company Sunsail is letting customers pay in advance in sterling to have their fridges stocked with groceries.
Some cut-price deals are available, such as seven nights in Skiathos for £469pp(31% off) self-catering, including flights from Gatwick, with Sunvil departing 17 July.
Tunisia
Travelers who have booked imminent trips (in the next few days) to Tunisia are generally being given the option to rebook, change or get a refund for their holiday by travel agents, although there is no obligation on agents or operators to do so, now or in the coming weeks and months, as the foreign office is not advising against travel there.
“Many travel companies have been quick to offer customers cancellations free of charge this week, or the opportunity to rebook in the weeks ahead, as they understand people may have concerns about travel to Tunisia following this terrible incident,” said Association of British Travel Agents spokeswoman Gillian Edwards. “Some of the alternative destinations being offered by tour operators include the Canary Islands, Cyprus and Cape Verde.”
Those due to travel to the country in future months may well be offered similar alternatives, but were advised to wait a while before asking holiday companies about their own trips, or to wait to be contacted, as phone lines are currently extremely busy.
Thomson and First Choice – with whom the 30 British tourists who died [as confirmed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Thursday] in the attack were travelling – said thousands of their customers had cut their holidays short to return to the UK early, though some had decided to stay.
Nick Longman, managing director of both companies, said: “We will be extending the cancellation of all our holidays to Tunisia up to and including 9 July. Customers travelling to Tunisia in this period will be given the opportunity to amend their holidays free of charge to any of our destinations, or receive a full refund. Furthermore, customers planning to travel to Tunisia at any time up until the end of the summer season (31 October) will be able to amend their holidays free of charge to any of our destinations.” The alternatives include 15 new flight destinations, such as the Balearic Islands, mainland Spain, Cape Verde and Cyprus, and those swapping to these new options are to get an extra £50 discount.
Easyjet had launched a new flight route to Monastir on the Tunisian coast, 40 minutes’ drive south from Sousse, on 2 June, from Stansted. Passengers who are due to travel to Monastir and who booked on or before 26 June can obtain a free flight transfer on any date and on any route, or a flight voucher to the value of their unused flights.
France
Strikes caused chaos for travel on Le Shuttle and Eurostar last week, and there was still some disruption at the time of going to press, though the passenger service was running to schedule (see eurotunnel.com) for updates. The M20 had been affected, check for updates at highways.gov.uk.
However, tourism to Britain’s favourite country does not seem to be suffering. Marine Catalogna, press officer for Atout France, the French tourist board, said: “We have not noticed any slowdown of enquiries in the past two weeks - people have asked for practical tips, or needed reassurance, but no one has mentioned not going. With the exchange rate very much in favour of sterling, we are positive France will remain a favourite this summer.”
Ferry companies, including Brittany Ferries, said they had seen a boost in bookings last week as people were worried about travelling through the Eurotunnel. Many overnight bookings for this week are now fully booked, said a Brittany Ferries spokesperson.
•Travelers to all destinations are strongly advised to take out travel insurance in case they need to cancel their trip for any reason
Contributed by Gemma Bowes, www.theguardian.com
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