In light of the current situation after the outbreak of the swine flu in Mexico, TUI, Germany’s leading tour operator, has decided to extend its offer of allowing trips to be rebooked at no charge until May 31. This regulation holds for all tour operators under the German TUI group who offer trips to Mexico in their catalogs. Besides TUI itself, this includes 1-2-Fly, Airtours, Berge & Meer, Gebeco and L tur.
800 clients of TUI operators are presently in Mexico. They are staying in the resort of Playa del Carmen, approximately 1,200 kilometers east of Mexico City on the Yucatán peninsula. According to present state of knowledge, no one has contracted the swine flu in this area as of yet. So far, only a few visitors to the area have voiced their desire to return ahead of time, and TUI seeks to comply with their wishes as far as possible. TUI’s crisis squad is in permanent contact with the Department for Foreign Affairs and the local authorities in Mexico and is closely observing the developments.
All tourists currently in Mexico are provided with behavioral guidelines to avoid infection. The same holds true for all clients scheduled to begin their journey over the next days. The majority of tourists in Mexico is sticking to their travel plans: 350 people had booked trips up to May 3, 150 of which will no longer travel to Mexico due to the circumstances. Most of these clients have rebooked for different destinations, with only a few opting for cancellation.
TUI recommends all clients requiring information to contact their travel agencies or to directly consult the TUI Service Center, which has dedicated a telephone hotline for Mexico-related inquiries (Telephone 0511-5678000). Nearly 1,000 incoming calls related to the situation in Mexico were received on this line and the conventional ones by Tuesday evening. The most clients by far requested information, with less than ten percent of calls involving rebooking or, in a few cases, cancellations. By now, the number of calls has subsided to a point where the extended service hours are no longer needed, and the usual business hours have been reinstated: From 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays – closed on Sundays and holidays.
