Almost 1 million holidaymakers who were due to travel with Tui have had their trips cancelled after the company announced a fresh round of suspensions in response to the coronavirus crisis.
The UK’s biggest tour operator, which specialises in package breaks, said it was no longer able to offer beach holidays that involved travelling on or before 11 June.
Cruises later in the year are also affected after the company postponed the launch of Tui River Cruises until 26 November.
Tui had previously been forced to cancel holidays booked to take place before 14 May. It said the disruptions had affected a total of 900,000 people.
The latest cancellations, which follow government advice against all but essential travel, affect 143,000 bookings and 400,000 holidaymakers.
Customers will be sent a credit note in the first instance but can claim a refund if they do not want to reschedule.
Those who opt for the credit note will receive an extra 20% to spend on a trip and have until 31 October 2021 to use the voucher.
Travel firms have been coming under fire for their response to cancellations with many customers having problems getting their money back. Up to £7bn could be owed for cancelled trips, and some companies appear to be stalling refunds.
Last week Ryanair backtracked on its promise to process refunds within 20 working days and told customers they would now have to wait until the Covid-19 emergency has passed.
The consumer group Which? said 20 of the UK’s largest travel operators and airlines were breaking the law by not returning money to customers within 14 days.
Rory Boland, the editor of Which? Travel, said: “Tui’s decision should allow customers who may be under financial pressure to start the process of getting their money back – but the company must ensure it is making the refund process as straightforward as possible, rather than pushing vouchers or credit notes.”
Tui said it was taking about 28 days to process refunds. Customers whose holidays were scheduled to take place between 12 June and 11 July could move their booking to another date for free, it added.
“Rolling cancellations have been put in place to ensure customer service teams can support those impacted by the cancellations in date order,” the company said.
“We would like to thank customers for their patience and understanding, especially given the scale of people we are trying to help.”
