Viewpoint

The tourist trap

Humphrey CarterPalma14/07/2020 00:10

Last year, as is quite normal, tens or hundreds of thousands of Britons would have returned from their holiday in Majorca, or other sunny climes, to quickly rebook for this year while others would have booked in December and January, the two key months for travel industry sales, unaware of the looming health crisis.

Last week, I spoke to a number of leading travel bosses in the UK and they all pointed out that a large number of holiday makers are trapped in the hands of insurance companies and the large tour operators - adding that the British will travel to Majorca this year.

The two key reasons are that those who booked last year, but may now be thinking twice about travelling because of the pandemic, face the very real threat of losing their money if they don’t travel. The decision not to travel due to health concerns will not wash with insurance companies.

The other factor is that for many of those who had booked for earlier this year but had their holidays moved to later dates are also duty bound by their tour operator to travel or again, face the prospect of being left out of pocket.

Very few travel insurance companies have included a COVID-19 clause, the only one I actually know of is SAGA, so thousands of Britons face the daunting prospect of losing their hard saved money should they feel uncomfortable about taking their well earned holiday. A nasty catch-22 situation.