Travellers await clarity on Games

Holidaymakers who had booked to go to Japan for the Olympic Games face an uncertain few days as the full consequences of the decision to postpone the event become clearer.

On the plus side, most travel packages in the UK will be protected by the Air Travel Organisers’

Licensing (Atol) scheme.

“If you have booked a package, the main purpose of which was to see the Games, then technically the operator ought to offer a refund, but more likely, you will be offered a trip next year instead,” said Nick Trend, Telegraph Travel’s consumer editor.

It is a different picture for those who have booked independently. If the

FCO lifts its current advice for British nationals to avoid all but essential travel, and there are no Japan travel warnings in place this summer, those who have already booked their Tokyo flights independently may not get a refund, unless their insurance policy covers it. They may be able to reschedule the booking. Anyone in this situation is advised to check their airline’s cancellation policies and accommodation they booked with.

Specialist operator Inside Japan had several hundred people booked to go to Tokyo this summer and is hoping they will want to rebook for 2021.

“We are all awaiting clarity as to when the Games will now go ahead but our customers are being very understanding and we think that most of them will want to go ahead once this cloud of the coronavirus has lifted,” said James Mundy, a spokesman for Inside Japan.

“We think it was right that the Games were cancelled and hope that when they are able to go, visitors will see Japan in all its amazing colour.”

The postponement of the Tokyo Olympics was announced on Tuesday. It is not clear when the Games will now take place. The organisers have said it will be after 2020 and before the summer of 2021 – raising the possibility that it could be held in the spring and be a cherry blossom games. way they have to work. Those employees they do have are stressed, in fear of their jobs and livelihoods. What’s more, as the virus spreads, more of them are getting ill, leaving companies even more short-staffed.

Employees are also having to deal with anxious, impatient customers desperate to get their money back. And I know, from the tone of some who have contacted me, that not all these customers are understanding or reasonable in their expectations.

We are all worried about the financial consequences of the virus, but I have been impressed by the efforts of the travel industry to mitigate the problem. Most are doing their level best to help – and many are doing their utmost to be flexible.

Strictly speaking, customers are usually entitled to a cash refund in such circumstances. But many companies, in their struggle to survive, are trying to persuade people to accept a postponement – rebooking for a later date – or an offer of a credit for a future holiday. So, bearing in mind the extremity of the situation, I’ve changed the advice I give to those whose trips are

FOOD AID

Cruise lines have been donating their surplus supplies to food banks. Fred Olsen Cruise Lines ended up with extra food parcels after putting together care packages for passengers who flew back from a disrupted Caribbean cruise on Braemar, which they donated to the Families in Need food bank in Suffolk. Windstar Cruises gave seven pallets of fresh and dairy produce worth $8,000 (£6,500) to the Feeding America relief organisation in the US. The pallets were bound for Windstar’s motor sailing yacht Wind Surf in the Caribbean. “There’s a silver lining in this abrupt cancellation of operations,” said Windstar’s chief operating officer Chris Prelog. “We don’t want good food to go to waste.”

CHANGING PLACES

Cruise ship workers are finding there’s a positive side to the shutdown, having been moved out of crew quarters and into passenger staterooms. Ships are currently being maintained in “hot lay-up” scenarios, so they can be called back into action with just a few days’ notice. That means keeping contracted staff on board. A casino worker on Oasis of the Seas, anchored in the Bahamas, said on YouTube that he and other crew members were spending time “chilling by the pool”. “We are having fun. Life isn’t too bad and I feel I’m in the safest place in the world.”

WARDS AFLOAT

Carnival Corporation has offered select ships from its brands – including Carnival Cruise Line, Holland America Line and Princess Cruises – to be used as hospital ships. As the spread of Covid-19 continues to exert pressure on land-based healthcare resources, including hospital beds, the world’s largest cruise company has called on governments and health authorities to consider using cruise ships as temporary healthcare facilities to treat non-Covid-19 patients. Carnival Corporation’s ships each have the capacity to provide up to 1,000 hospital rooms and seven intensive care units in their medical centres. cancelled and suggested that – if at all possible – they forbear from demanding a refund and accept an alternative offer. The more people who feel able to do this, the more travel companies will survive to arrange our holidays in future. In the vast majority of cases your money will be protected because your holiday was paid for with a credit card booking or a financial bonding arrangement such as Atol.

Abta, the trade association, has asked the Government to take two immediate steps to help the industry survive. First, to allow companies to refund customers over a defined period, during which their payment is protected. And second, to establish an emergency fund to reimburse customers’ money where travel companies cannot recoup it from their suppliers. Only with these interventions, says Abta, “will we be able to continue to protect the customer interests, and avoid a short-term run on travel companies, which will trigger failures and delay refunds getting to customers”.

It’s a cry for help. If we want to carry on travelling after Covid-19, we should all heed it.

Cruise lines are sharing messages of hope