Canceled Tour? These Are Your Chances For A Refund

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When traveling for pleasure, some people prefer to do a tour, either instead of or in addition to a DIY approach.

Not surprisingly, tour operators have been feeling the same devastation as airlines, hotels and any other travel-related vendor or company; the business has stopped and they have no idea of when their respective companies will get back on their feet.

Unfortunately, just like with airlines, people who already had tour reservations when the travel world essentially stopped have had varying degrees of success in getting a refund. An industry survey discovered how often it’s happening.

WeTravel processes payments for about 3,000 tour operators and their partners around the world. They recently asked their clients what they were doing in terms of working with travelers whose tours were canceled. They got 592 responses.

Most of their respondents were U.S.-based travel companies that offer multi-day international tours to individual travelers or to small or large groups. Just under 90% of the respondents are small-to-medium sized companies that have less than 20 employees. Almost 75% of them have been in operation for more than 5 years.

Slightly over 60% of the tour companies have canceled between half and all of their scheduled trips. In looking at the nearer future, over half expect a decrease of 50% of their revenue in 2020, in comparison to 2019. 10% of them suspect their decline will be more than 90%.

When it comes to refunds:

• 49% said they were giving full refunds
• 39% were giving credits for future bookings
• 27% were waiting to hear from their vendors first
  Of the vendors:
  — 39% were willing to give full refunds
  — 11% were not willing to give refunds or to reschedule
  — The other 50% of vendors were not mentioned
• 14% were giving refunds with a small fee
• 11% were negotiating with travelers
• 10% were not offering refunds

In looking towards the more distant future, over half have a negative outlook in regards to business for the rest of 2020; 10% are positive.

In looking towards 2021, almost 33% feel positive about their business improving; 22% do not.

44% of responding tour operators think it will take between 6 and 12 months for the industry to recover. This corresponds with 70% of them planning for tours to resume in October 2020 and beyond.

But for now, things are tight.

That’s understandable. But lots of their clients, I’m sure, don’t currently have an income because they’re under stay at home orders and can’t work from home. Just like the money people put out for their plane tickets or hotels, those few hundred to a few thousand dollars could come in handy right about now.

Here’s a little more info from WeTravel’s survey:

#stayhealthy #staysafe #washyourhands

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary