Adventure specialist Explore is to refund cancelled holidays where customers have to self-isolate as a result of Covid-19 and are unable to travel.
The tour operator has pledged to waive its usual cancellation charges through its Covid-19 Refund Promise – and offer affected customers a full refund, which will also cover the cost of any flights booked through Explore.
Customers who have booked through a travel agent can cancel on these terms, which might include a diagnosis within a month of their planned departure or confirmed contact with a case, up to the day of travel itself.
Joe Ponte, managing director of Explore, said: “These are unparalleled circumstances – in almost 40 years of business, we’ve never seen anything like it.
“There’s a need to restore trust and faith in the travel sector, and we believe strongly that a good company does the right thing in the tough times as well as the good. We want people to look forward to travelling with us again. And if we can give our travel agents and their customers some reassurance that we’ll keep them safe, that their money is safe with us and that, if they are diagnosed with Covid or are required to quarantine, they’ll get their money back, then that’s a good start.”
Explore said it would continue to offer cash refunds, as well as credit vouchers, when requested for any trips customers have cancelled due to the pandemic.
It says the addition of its Covid-19 Refund Promise is part of the company’s wider Book with Confidence pledge to agents and their customers.