Since 2008 we have expressed serious concerns over the health and safety standards operated in the popular holiday resorts in Egypt.  We began by asking if Egypt was the ‘new’ Dominican Republic for Holiday Illness and Complaints?  In that article we suggested that it would be well for the Egyptian tourist authorities to learn from the Dominican Republic experience; it appears that they did not!  Less than 2 weeks later, we again expressed concern over the range of holiday complaints and problems reported to us; apart from illness complaints we were also hearing  how complaining holidaymakers were being ‘bullied’ out of making complaints!  We again called on the Egyptian Authorities to act; it appears that they did not!  In July 2009, we again called for the Egyptian Authorities to act upon the growing number of complaints and illnesses reported to us; again, it appears that they did not!  We again express our concerns! Read More

The range of holiday illness reports for 2009, was probably the worst we had experienced since this organisation was formed 15 years ago!  Sickness complaints are the most common form of complaint that we receive!  Salmonella, Giardia, Cryptosporidium, E-Coli O157, so-called Norovirus were just some of the many confirmed diagnoses we received; this did not account for the many holidaymakers who were affected by serious gastric illness complaints and those who were not ill but nonetheless had to care for their sick relatives and friends and suffered in many cases, a complete loss of enjoyment!  Chidren on drips, old people suffering serious illness often in isolation, ambulances taking holidaymakers to hospital, people populating medical centres in hotels because they are too ill to stay in their rooms, wholesale administration of anti-biotics which in some countries are drugs that are actually banned in Western countries – these are the real experiences of British & other European holidaymakers!  The problems are well illustrated by the holidaymakers stories illustrated on this page!  We have only reproduced these stories from our e mail contacts.  These holidaymakers stories have been presented to the EU Commission in our campaigning reports!  The stories have been left largely unedited; they are in the words of the holidaymakers who have contacted us.  The names of travel companies have been removed because we consider the story or the experience of the holidaymaker is central! Read More

This is probably the most common holiday problem encountered abroad. It can be caused by either contaminated food or water. Most food and water-borne illnesses are spread via the faecal-oral route; or more bluntly, the food that you eat or water you drink has been contaminated by faeces. Read More