The first point to consider is whether the Covid-19 coronavirus is considered an unavoidable and extraordinary circumstance (UEC)?

This will depend on the advice being given by various governments relating to the coronavirus.

If the UK Foreign Office advises against travel to a particular country due to coronavirus, OR if official government advice for any other country is that you can’t enter that country if you have travelled to coronavirus “hotspots” in the last 14 days, then yes – it will be considered an UEC.

Ultimately it comes down to what the official government agencies say, and whether they change their official entry requirements, or in the case of the FCO, advise against all but essential travel.

If the change in FCO/government advice means that customers can no longer travel to their chosen destination, where the customer has booked a package holiday, under the Package Travel Regulations (PTRs), customers are entitled to cancel their holiday and receive a full refund of monies paid if they are due to travel imminently*.

However, my advice to agents or package organisers would be to offer the following options first:

• Offer a delayed departure date to the customer, although whether this is feasible will depend on the destination. It’s also worth bearing in mind that we have no idea how long this epidemic is going to continue, so this may not be a feasible option.
• A better option may be to offer customers an alternative destination where there aren’t the same restrictions. If the alternative is of a lower standard or value though, customers are entitled to a price reduction.
• If the customer is not prepared to accept either option, then they should be allowed to cancel the holiday and given a full refund. No compensation is payable to the customer since it’s a UEC. Refunds should be made within 14 days of the cancellation date.

Package organisers may also be affected where the governments of other countries place restrictions on who can travel there. Again, if this means customers can no longer travel to that destination because of a change in the entry requirements of that country, this would qualify as a UEC and the above options apply.

This article was first posted on TTG media. Read the original here.