The Directors of HolidayTravelWatch were deeply saddened to hear of the deaths of two ‘Guardia Civil’ Officers, following the bomb blast in Palma Nova, Majorca, on Thursday last week.  Deepest sympathies and heartfelt respect are offered to the families of the deceased.  It should be recognised that the ‘travel industry family’ does not just extend to those who strictly work in the industry, but also in the many ancillary services that provide support to a local economy.  We recognise that local police, in whatever country, often have to deal with many difficult situations for and on behalf of holidaymakers, it is criminal that officers working many hundreds of miles from the centre of this dispute should be struck down so callously. Read More

The debate of swine flu and forthcoming holidays rumbles on!  The latest advice (we can only find the following two reports), apparently from Government, is that if you are suffering with swine flu when abroad – stay there until you recover!  Readers of our earlier blog on this matter will have noted our deep concern over the lack of travel insurance cover and how those ‘disinclined’ to travel, will not receive any benefit from their travel insurance policy!  Now we read in the Telegraph that the Insurance Industry is not so sure and will be talking to the Department for Health, but nonetheless they expect that their members will be ‘flexible’ on the issue – however, you would have to show real symptoms and not just simply a ‘disinclination’ to travel in order to receive a benefit from your travel insurance!  Well now you know, or not, as the case may be! Read More

Well the Burmese authorities finally showed their true colours – the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi  - and holiday companies and apologists for this regime still want tourists to visit this country?  Here are the Google results for holidays currently for sale to Burma! Disbelief! Read More

I see that the travel press is all a buzz about ‘risk destinations’ and how you wouldn’t know that there was a problem when you get there!  One such article ‘How troubled is Thai Tourism?’ analysed the ‘risk’ of travelling to Thailand and provided a travel industry view on the risks to a holidaymaker, however, the article did not raise the thorny issue of the effect of such troubles on the travel insuarance product and whether a holidaymaker would be covered or not!  There is clearly concern growing about the Thailand destination; this is such an important issue, as holidaymakers have discovered, travel to certain destinations (Kenya, Cuba, Mexico, Thailand) has or could potentially leave them without insurance cover! Read More

I was astonished to read in the Travel Section of Saturday’s ‘Independent’ newspaper‘, an advertisment by a major tour operator, offering an ‘unbelievable value’ holiday to Sri Lanka!  In the same paper (page 2) I could see the headline ‘UN brokers exit strategy for children trapped in war zone’!  Pictures showed Tamil children queuing for food and a shocking picture of a malnourished child, showing ’scenes of utter misery and hardship, a government health official in the region claimed that at least five children were dying every day from diarrhoea and malnutrition and that many mothers are too emaciated to nurse their babies’.  This is a purely personal observation (I respect those who differ from me and I am sure that there will be those who state that their visit will help the very people in question etc etc), even if I decided to take the risk of travelling to such a country, I could not in all conscience travel to a country with such misery and ‘enjoy myself ‘ in a five star all-inclusive hotel with all that going on up the road so to speak! Read More

HolidayTravelWatch notes with interest the report in The Sun Newspaper – ‘Global holiday terror risk soars’.  It raises the statistic created by the US Government, that there has been a 24% increase, since 2006, on the number of people killed by terrorist attacks.  It cites the fact that, ‘Many attacks happened in popular holiday spots such as India, Thailand and Sri Lanka’.  It is not clear from the article how many of those killed were in fact tourists, however, it does raise the question that ‘terrorism’ exclusion clauses should be ’scrapped’. Read More

In response to a request from the Financial Services Authority, HolidayTravelWatch has submitted its opinion on the proposed regulations, which will govern the sale of Travel Insurance to Consumers from 1 January 2009. This submission will conclude a lengthy consultation process which began before the Treasury Select Committee, followed by the enquiry of HM The Treasury. Read More