Consumer advice website Holiday Travel Watch has called for action over the Holiday Village in Turkey after being contacted by holidaymakers who were taken ill at the resort.
Holiday Travel Watch has written an open letter to the Turkish Ambassador in London Mehmet Yigit Alpogan asking him to bring the issue to the attention of the Turkish health authorities.
Senior consumer advocate Frank Brehany said the site had received reports of salmonella, campylobacter and serious gastroenteritis from holidaymakers returning from the Holiday Village in Sarigerme. He said the site had been aware of problems at the hotel since 2006.
He said: “Holiday Travel Watch has received a number of complaints from holidaymakers, which suggest that the problems at this complex do not appear to have abated. What must happen before the Turkish health authorities will act to resolve the problems at the Holiday Village?”
Earlier this month, law firm Irwin Mitchell called for First Choice – the only operator to feature the property – to clean up the hotel or stop sending customers there.
The firm has now commenced legal action against First Choice for 140 holidaymakers. This is the fifth year in a row the law firm has dealt with holidaymakers who have fallen ill at the four-star 1,000-room complex in Sarigerme, previously known as Pegasus Palace.
Irwin Mitchell solicitor Juliette Eden said 20 claimants are confirmed as having salmonella, while some others are seeking compensation because they spent their holiday looking after sick relatives or friends.
A First Choice spokeswoman said the operator had no reports of confirmed salmonella cases. She maintained that the Holiday Village Turkey is regularly audited by independent health and hygiene consultants IGI, which has reported a “high standard of hygiene practices”.
She said: “This year, reports of minor illness among guests at the Holiday Village in Turkey are very low. More than 46,500 passengers travelled to this hotel last summer and a similar amount is expected this year. This year sickness levels have run at less than 0.1% of the total hotel guest population, which is exceptionally low for this time of year in overseas hotels.”