Travel agencies flooded with calls over Middle East travel warning
The Netherlands escalating its travel advice for the Middle East to code orange, code red in Bahrain’s case, has had travel agencies’ phones ringing off the hook. Concerned travelers want to know whether their vacation can still happen, or whether they can come home, NOS reports.
“This mainly affects travelers who have a stopover in one of the orange or red countries on their way to Asia or Oceania,” Frank Radstake of the travel companies’ association ANVR told NOS. “Or those who still need to return.” He estimates that thousands of people are affected.
Berend Simons of Sawadee Reizen told NOS that his company has been inundated with calls from customers asking about their booked trips. People already traveling and flying back from or via airports in orange areas will be able to come home, Simons assured. Little will change for them. “We will bring people back via those airports,” he said.
“But for people who are about to go traveling and would be flying via the Middle East, we have to rebook or cancel,” Simons said. Sawadee Reizen adheres to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ travel advice, and that is now only travel if it is truly necessary.
If an alternative is available, customers will be rebooked, for example, with airlines from other regions. “Those additional costs are borne by tour operators,” Simons said. This could mean having to travel outside of the high season, he warned. “That will be the other challenge. There is a shortage on the market and a few major airlines are dropping out.” If rebooking is truly impossible, his company will cancel the trip.
According to the ANVR, travelers who have booked a package tour will generally be rebooked. “Although it remains a customized solution,” Radstake said. People who booked their flight tickets separately will have to make the choice themselves. “If a client absolutely wants to fly via the Middle East, they can certainly choose to do so.” For example, six flights departed from Schiphol to the orange destinations in the Middle East on Wednesday.
