5 2


Tunisia market ‘wiped out’ as Tui and Cook cancel


Jennifer Morris


jennifer.morris@ travelweekly.co.uk


UK tourism to Tunisia has been “wiped out” for 2016 after both Thomson and Thomas Cook cancelled all bookings to the country in the past week.


GfK figures show that up until


the end of 2015, 26,000 UK customers had made bookings to Tunisia. Those who booked through Thomas Cook and Thomson will be offered refunds and alternative destinations. The move follows the Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s continued advice against all but essential travel to the country. Tunisia does not feature in Jet2holidays or Monarch’s summer 2016 programmes. The first of three Highlights of


Tunisia trips with Intrepid Travel is due to depart in April, but the operator said it will “monitor official advisories and information from the local team”. Alan Bowen, legal adviser to the


Association of Atol Companies, said tourism to Tunisia this summer had been “wiped out”, adding: “It is going to take strong action by the Tunisian government to see any major UK operator return and at the moment they are still in a state of emergency, which doesn’t look too good in the short to medium term.” The Tunisian National Tourist


Office said it was “optimistic” that “loyal” UK visitors would return in their thousands once the travel warning was lifted. Last September, UK visitors


were down 96% year on year to fewer than 2,000. French, German and Italian


governments have permitted travel back to some Tunisian areas. Tarek Aouadi, director of the


Tunisian National Tourist Office, said: “Unfortunately, travel companies have to plan in advance, by which time the situation could be completely different. “Our priority remains the safety


of our British guests and I want to thank the UK travel trade for its support.”


3


Turkey: ‘Clients are not to be persuaded’


STORIES HOT


Families struggle to afford holidays


Juliet Dennis juliet.dennis@travelweekly.co.uk


Agents are reporting a dip in the family market as parents snub Turkey but struggle to find affordable summer breaks in the western Mediterranean.


Andrew Earle, proprietor of


Andrew Earle’s World of Travel in Hull, said families were already writing off a summer break abroad this year. He claimed average family packages in Spain cost at least £1,000 more this year. “We normally have relatively


strong demand for family packages at this time of year, which we have not had,” he said. “Clients don’t want Turkey; they


are not to be persuaded. They see prices for Spain, and say ‘you’ve got to be joking’. They are saying ‘let’s give it a miss’. We have a massive amount of demand for 2017.” Midcounties Co-operative


Cook and Tui are


offering refunds for Tunisia bookings


Travel general manager Alistair Rowland said the trade was dealing with three major destinations – Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey – being either off sale or lacking demand because of


“You expect one country to be off the radar, but not three”


terrorist fears. “You occasionally expect one country to be off the radar, but not three,” he added. The migrant crisis also continues to affect sales to parts of Greece, such as Kos, he added. Rowland said it meant families


who could not afford long-haul holidays were left with “limited options” for an overseas break. Andy Tomlinson, director of


Sutton Travel in Sutton Coldfield, said the luxury market was less affected. “Nothing is coming through for Turkey, Egypt or Tunisia, but five-star family business is going particularly well,” he said. Alan Bowen, legal adviser to the Association of Atol Companies, warned the problem would be in the lates market when Spain and Portugal put up “full house” signs. EasyJet flights to Palma,


Majorca, from Gatwick on July 23, returning two weeks later, cost up to £650.


28 January 2016 travelweekly.co.uk 5


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