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Sunvil offers free seats to migrants
Juliet Dennis
juliet.dennis@
travelweekly.co.uk
An offer from Sunvil Holidays to transport up to 200 refugees from Greece to the UK looks to have been made in vain after the government’s decision to take migrants only from camps in Syria, Turkey and Jordan.
Sunvil Group chairman Noel Josephides expressed disappointment his offer was unlikely to be taken up following the prime minister’s pledge this week to take 20,000 people from refugee camps by 2020. The operator had offered spare capacity on its Germania flights from the island of Samos – where thousands of refugees have landed after fleeing Syria – until the end of the season in mid-October to bring refugees to the UK. Josephides said: “I am very disappointed. I am all for taking as many as possible; it [20,000] is such a minuscule proportion of the population. The UK approach is not like the German one. Why do these poor people have to suffer? “We are quite prepared to give
free seats on our flights from Samos
to Gatwick between now and the end of the season as we’ll have around 200 empty seats. The Home Office has thanked us and said they will let us know, but I don’t think they will now take it up.” Sunvil has been donating clothes given by holidaymakers to refugees via its holiday reps on the islands of Tilos and Samos for the past 18 months. Other travel companies are also helping those affected by the crisis. Thomas Cook has offered to
carry charitable donations from holidaymakers for free on flights to specified destinations, including Kos, provided customers pre-book any additional luggage. Christoph Debus, the operator’s
chief airlines and hotels officer, said: “We understand some customers may wish to carry charitable donations for the refugees, so at all our UK departure airports we will carry it for free.” The crisis is thought to have had
little impact on Greece bookings. Abta said it was continuing to
give a “balanced perspective” to consumers, adding: “The danger is that with continuing negative coverage, customers might think twice about visiting Kos in 2016.”
Sunvil has offered to fly up to 200 refugees to the UK
Crowdfunding tech taps sharing trend
Lucy Huxley
lucy.huxley@
travelweekly.co.uk
A group of travel industry stalwarts is aiming to capitalise on the popularity of crowdfunding, offering agents and operators an innovative way for clients to collaborate and pay for holidays.
They have launched Payzella,
which enables customers to create gift trips and manage groups and payments via social media. Payzella is headed by Richard
Turner, formerly of Comtec, and Tony Evans, chief executive of tprofile, which built the technology. Fellow founders include Comtec chairman Simon Powell and former Thomas Cook director Richard Calvert, chief executive of Destination Weddings. Private equity-backed Payzella’s
technology can be embedded in partner websites to promote funds via email and social media. Turner claimed it “will
transform group booking options via just three simple steps”. Destination Weddings and
operator Leisuretime are the first to sign up and Turner said he was in talks with other players. “There’s a whole generation
that likes sharing and virally playing a part in helping someone crowdfund. It’s a different way of transacting and contacting people and it’s really popular.” Payzella is expected to appeal to
customers seeking contributions for expensive trips such as honeymoons or organisers of group ski holidays or stag and hen dos. Turner added Payzella allows
agents visibility of forward sales and funds going into the bank, plus upsell opportunities. Leisuretime managing director
Ceri Johnson predicted Payzella “will soon become a must-have app for the entire travel industry”. Last week, rival firm Make It
Social revealed new backers and technology aimed at travel firms.
WIN!
l To mark the launch, Travel Weekly readers can win a Payzella fund by contributing £1. Payzella has kicked things off by donating £1,000. The winner will be invited to WTM in November. Entrants will be offered Payzella set-up for free. To enter, contribute £1 at
payzella.com/travel-weekly
3 STORIES HOT
10 September 2015
travelweekly.co.uk 5
PICTURE: REUTERS/DIMITRIS MICHALAKIS
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