ANY legal claims for negligence against Explore Worldwide would be certain to fail, according to legal experts.
Patrick Farrell, a partner at Norton Rose in London and a specialist in litigation, said the fact the tourists knew the risks would be sufficient protection.
“Kidnapping by its very nature can be a violent crime and is out of the control of the tour operator,” he said. “The only way the operator could be liable is if they did not tell its customers of special warnings it had received. I would be very surprised if any court would find against them.”
Farrell said holidaymakers involved in the Luxor massacre in 1997 considered suing operators but chose not to after being told any case would be virtually unwinnable. “They were given warnings not only from operators but Egyptian police that incidents can happen,” he said. “They, like anyone who tries to sue Explore, would have had a very hard task proving negligence.”
Meanwhile Explore, which has suspended tours to Yemen, has received dozens of letters of support following the tragedy from other tour operators and customers.
Explore has been running Yemen tours for 10 years and in 1998 took 250 clients to the destination.