Holiday Sickness Claims | The Consumer Detriment 41
HolidayTravelWatch continues to hear from Travel Consumers suffering ’Holiday Sickness’ detriment in their holiday contracts. A recent call for help came from a Mrs M1, she stated:
“we stayed in [NAME OF HOTEL] sharm el sheik from12th june to 24th june, my son was unwell by 13th with diarrhea, stomach cramps and feeling sick all the holiday, by the sat my husband was unwell by sun I was unwell, on the last day my daughter ate a burger she was on the toilet within half an hour with diarrhea then again at the airport and feeling sick tummy cramps then when she got home they are still not quite better, six times in the eleven days we were there was diarrhea in the pool. the drinks were warm the ice cream was always melted, the pool had scum marks all round the edge and a fiilm of stuff on the top often the pools were not clean, the food didnt look cooked sometimes I could go on but Im very disappointed I wont go back to egypt it has put me off for life”. (E.07.07)
Mrs M1 has received advice and assistance from the team at HolidayTravelWatch.
Frank Brehany, the Senior Consumer Advocate of HolidayTravelWatch states;
“I have consistently warned that Egypt looks like it has become the new Dominican Republic for holiday sickness. It is no use the Egyptian Authorities bleating if their tourist trade drops, because of their impotence in dealing with serious health risk issues. This story is disgraceful; how can tour company representatives and tour companies ignore the obvious deficits in health & safety standards? The Package Travel Directive must be overhauled to the advantage of the Travel Consumer, and to inject at least the scent of Corporate Responsibility into companies that sell holidays to sub-standard hotels”.
All Holidaymakers affected by any of these issues should contact HolidayTravelWatch for further assistance.
Note to Editors:
Since 2005, HolidayTravelWatch has provided comment on the ever increasing threat to The Package Travel Regulations. This situation has developed partly through the changing style of purchasing holidays, but principally from the Court of Appeal decision as to what they considered constituted a ‘package’.
After considerable debate, the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR) has produced a Guidance note, in an attempt to assist with the definition as to what constitutes a ‘package’. Why is this definition important? Simply, if an agent or operator can show that they are simply selling components, then they will escape the regulatory requirements of the Air Tour Operator licence (ATOL) scheme and, the provisions of The Package Travel Regulations. If that is the case, then the hard fought rights to protect the consumer will be lost. The consumer will be unprotected.
We have contributed to the continued debate, submitting our report examining consumer detriment, to the EU Commission and DBERR in October 2007. In that report we highlighted th very real risk that is now faced by the British Travel Consumer, through 160 case studies. We have also provided what we consider to be the solution to the diminution of Travel Consumer rights.
The EU Commission are currently reviewing the Package Travel Directive, but the result of their enquiries, along with their recommendations, is not expected for some time. The reaction to the recent Guidance produced by DBERR, produced a cautious welcome from the Travel Industry, but it does not deal with their principle concern, that being the market operations of the airline industry. They argue, if they are subject to a regulatory regime, then so should the airline industry when they sell holidays on their websites. We have argued that any regulatory regime should apply across the board, not just to one segment of the Travel Industry.
We have predicted, a notion rejected by DBERR, that their Guidance note and the Court of Appeal decision gives a green light to those who want to ‘deregulate’ the package holiday.
HolidayTravelWatch has launched its petition, calling on Government and the EU Commission to protect the rights of Consumers in Holiday Contracts.
Tags: ABTA Code of Conduct, Egypt, Free Holiday Complaints Letters, holiday complaints
HTW has noted that amongst the submissions to the Committee on Toxicity (COT) it has been suggested that the symptoms highlighted by crew and passengers were akin to the condition of hyperventilation.
HTW has for many years received reports from concerned holiday makers or independent travellers as to the safety of their aircraft, ship or boat, train or road transport.
