Almost all coronavirus vouchers for canceled package holidays redeemed

Almost all travel vouchers issued during the coronavirus crisis for package holidays have been redeemed, BNR reports after speaking with the organizations involved. According to the foundation for guaranteeing travel vouchers SGR, travelers have redeemed between 300,000 and 350,000 vouchers, totaling in about 600 million euros.

Issuing hundreds of thousands of travel vouchers after the coronavirus pandemic brought travel to a complete halt was a massive job that no one in the travel industry was prepared for. “Simply because we have never done anything like it before,” Frank Oostdam of travel industry organization ANVR said. He is delighted that travelers have redeemed almost all the package travel vouchers.

Because of the enormity of the operation, the Netherlands’ Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) kept a very close eye on the processing of the coronavirus travel vouchers. “Our view is that, in general, the handling went well and has now been almost completed,” a spokesperson for the watchdog said to BNR. “We hear that from the sector, from travel organizations, and guarantee funds, but it is also apparent from the fact that we receive very few complaints from consumers about problems with vouchers.”

Where vouchers for package holidays were relatively easy to arrange, the process for individual airline tickets was much more complicated, all three parties told BNR. These tickets were often booked through intermediaries instead of directly with the airline. “It turned out to be a lot more difficult to get a voucher or refund,” the ACM spokesperson said. Not all airlines or intermediaries were willing to cooperate. According to the SGR, it is unclear how many individual tickets were ultimately refunded with a voucher or cash.

The only major problem the three parties were aware of was around D-Reizen, an intermediary that went bankrupt during the pandemic. KLM refunded canceled tickets to D-Reizen, but that money never made it to the travelers. The case is still in court.