Cancellation of Vietnam tours
With the Security Bureau having issued a Red Outbound Travel Alert for Vietnam, the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong (TIC) and most of the travel agents operating Vietnam tours met this morning (16 May). During the meeting, the travel agents agreed to cancel package tours which depart between 16 and 26 May (both days inclusive) and whose itineraries include Vietnam, with the exception of cruise tours. Specific arrangements will be made in accordance with Directive No. 203 “Cancellation of package tours for reasons beyond control (revised)”, which was issued by the TIC.
Affected tour participants may choose either:
| (1) | to be refunded all the money paid (which includes tour fares, Airport Passenger Departure Tax, etc but excludes visa charges) after the deduction of a handling fee (for tours whose duration is five days or fewer, the handling fee must not be more than HK$150; and for tours lasting for six or more days, it must not be more than HK$300); |
| OR | |
| (2) | to retain all the tour fares paid for six months without needing to pay any handling fee. |
In either of the above cases, if airlines impose any cancellation charges on grounds of travel agents having cancelled their bookings, the travel agents are allowed to collect such charges from the travellers after written proof is submitted to the TIC and such proof is uploaded to the TIC website (www.tichk.org → “Proof of Cancellation Charges”).
Travellers who have bought air-plus-hotel packages bound for Vietnam or cruise tours may contact their travel agents on their own.
Travellers who have bought travel insurance may contact their insurance companies to learn about their cover in the current situation.
As regards the arrangements for package tours which depart on or after 27 May and whose itineraries include Vietnam, the TIC will make an announcement for travel agents operating Vietnam tours as soon as they make a decision later.