Agents need to do more to share Foreign Office (FCO) travel advice with clients in line with recommendations by the coroner at the inquest into the Sousse massacre in 2015.
Travel firms are seeking guidance on how best to do this.
In an initial report on the beach massacre of 30 Tui UK holidaymakers, coroner Nicholas Loraine-Smith acknowledged Tui had “taken steps to change its website and promotional literature”.
But he expressed “concern that other companies that sell holidays, or sell flights and hotel accommodation separately, may not have taken such steps.”
His report was sent to the FCO last week and copies distributed to Abta, the CAA and Tui. It has yet to be published.
Aito chairman Derek Moore said it was an agent’s responsibility to mention FCO advice during a booking to any foreign country.
He said: “You never know when advice could change, so you have to make it part of the process.”
Moore suggested call centres may have to update their scripts and agents should educate the public on checking the advice, adding: “The message should be: everywhere you go, check FCO [advice].”
Julia Lo Bue-Said, managing director of the Advantage Travel Partnership, said: “Agencies have to deal with FCO advice in a diligent manner. As travel providers, we have a duty of care to ensure advice is unambiguous and clear, online or offline.
“We need to build it into the process, regardless of destination.” She added: “We may have to look at booking forms again.”
The coroner rejected the argument by lawyers for the families of the dead that neglect by Tui or the owners of the Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel, where the atrocity took place, contributed to the deaths.
But he recommended travel companies should have security advisors at board level – a role Tui introduced after Sousse.
A Tui spokeswoman said customer safety is “paramount”, saying: “We closely monitor FCO advice for all destinations and remind customers to do the same.”
Thomas Cook said it had taken on board the coroner’s recommendations and had made FCO advice “part of the booking journey”. Jet2holidays also said it had complied and was displaying advice clearly.
Abta said it was working with members to ensure advice is “clearly displayed”. The FCO said it was studying the report.
n Two German women were killed and four tourists injured in a knife attack in the Egyptian resort of Hurghada last week.
Sousse coroner’s matters of concern
Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith:
“I heard evidence that prior to the attack, Tui’s websites for Thomson and First Choice did not prominently display logos and links to the government’s Travel Aware programme, which provides detailed travel advice for every country on the Foreign Office website.
“I heard evidence that Tui has taken steps to change its website and promotional literature to make these logos and links more prominent.
“I remain concerned that other companies that sell holidays, or sell flights and hotel accommodation separately, may not have taken such steps, as a result of which, members of the public receive insufficient information about the risks of terrorist attacks in destination countries.”
More:
Sousse coroner demands travel firms provide more advice on terror threats
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