Marmaris bombs put travel agents on alert

A TOUR operator whose customers were wounded in the Marmaris explosions has challenged dynamic packaging travel agents to offer the same standard of service in an emergency.

Jewel in the Crown managing director Platon Loizou said a family group of five who booked with the operator were on the tourist bus targeted on Sunday night.

However, when four members of the group were sent to one hospital, leaving a 13-year-old girl alone in a different hospital across town with shrapnel buried in both her legs, the operator was able to contact relevant authorities to ensure the teenager was moved.

Having reps on the ground with local knowledge and language skills for emergency situations made this possible, said Loizou.

He added: “I’ve got a team of 25 people in Turkey with many based in Marmaris and they were able to have this girl moved from one hospital to the other where her father is recovering in intensive care.”

Agents putting together holidays themselves would struggle to give this kind of help, he added.

“Dynamic packaging is all about making one booking then moving on to the next one. If this had been an agent’s tailor-made customer they would have had to devote the entire week just to sorting this out.”

Loizou said the company’s reps also baby-sat for a six-year-old boy from the group, allowing his mother, whose other seven-year-old son suffered shrapnel wounds, time for hospital visits.

A family of five on holiday with Thomas Cook were caught in the same attack and were all expected to be out of hospital by the end of this week.

Federation of Tour Operators director-general Andy Cooper agreed disasters could highlight flaws in dynamic packaging. “My biggest concern about dynamic packaging is that customers think they are being sold a traditional package but when things go wrong they can’t get the help they expect.”

Agents should consider booking an additional rep service for customers they offer a dynamic package to, he added.