The UK’s largest inbound tour operator, JacTravel, has stoked the controversy over the cost and provision of accommodation for the London Olympics by saying it will back hoteliers who pull out of a deal with the organising committee.
JacTravel today welcomed reports that the British Hospitality Association (BHA) could withdraw from agreements with the London 2012 Organising Committee (Locog) and said it would contract with hoteliers who break from a formal deal with the committee.
Chief executive Mario Bodini, a senior figure in the UK inbound tourism association, UKInbound, said: “We applaud the BHA for putting pressing questions to Locog.
“We would like its members to know that if they decide to withdraw rooms from Locog, JacTravel stands ready to contract with them on the usual terms and to sell their rooms at reasonable rates to genuine visitors from overseas.”
Inbound operators have become increasingly alarmed at the Olympic authority’s failure to make rooms available for next year and at the rates being demanded, amid evidence that the organisers have seriously over-estimated likely demand from Olympic visitors from overseas.