Tunisia inquest hears TUI travel agent 'still not warning of terror threats'
The cost of holidays at the resort where 30 Britons were shot dead dropped by 30% in the weeks after a terror attack in Tunis.
Wednesday 8 February 2017 06:15, UK
A director of the holiday company TUI has admitted they still do not warn tourists if destinations are considered to be at a high risk of terrorist attack.
Commercial director Andrew Flintham was questioned at the inquests into the deaths of 30 Britons, who were among 38 people killed in an attack at the Tunisian resort of Sousse in June 2015.
Mr Flintham said that a link to the Foreign Office's travel advice website is now more prominently displayed in their brochures and on websites.
But when Andrew Ritchie QC, representing the families of 22 victims, displayed the FCO's current web page warning about the threat to tourists in Egypt, followed by TUI's website showing Egyptian holidays, Mr Flintham agreed that warning was not reflected.
He said that even if the Government's advice jumped from "no risk" to "high risk", TUI wouldn't "put travel advice on the page in that manner".
And he told the inquests into those killed in the Tunisian beach massacre that a price cut of nearly a third on holidays to the resort in the weeks leading up to the attack, was an automatic response to falling demand.
The inquests heard that there had been a 30% drop in the cost of holidays to the Imperial Marhaba Hotel in Sousse in the two months before the attack.
On 15 March, a week at the resort cost £811.
Three days later 24 people were killed in an attack on the Bardo museum in the capital Tunis.
By May, the price of the holiday had dropped to £572.
Mr Flintham said price fluctuations were made automatically to reflect demand and that a "sophisticated algorithm" constantly updated the cost of holidays.
Earlier the inquest heard how some of those who had been killed in Sousse had been concerned about the terrorist threat in the weeks before their holiday.
Elaine Thwaites, who died alongside her husband Denis, went to see a travel agent in person after hearing about the attack in Tunis.
Her son-in-law Daniel Clifford told the court that she had been reassured that the resort was secure.
Mr Clifford, who is a travel agent himself, said that he did not recall seeing any references to Foreign Office advice when he helped her book the holiday online, nor was it in any of the confirmation emails sent by the company.
He said that if she had been told that the Foreign Office advice was warning of a high risk of terrorism, she would have looked at an alternative destination.
A crib-sheet had been provided to TUI staff to answer questions from worried holidaymakers.
Under the question "Is Tunisia Safe?" staff were told to say: "The overall level of advice has not changed...and therefore our holidays are continuing to go ahead as planned".
TUI was not offering refunds or alternative holidays because the FCO did not advise against all but essential travel, and therefore the resorts remained operational.
The inquests also heard a statement from a TUI customer service consultant who recalled dealing with an inquiry from Bruce Wilkinson about his forthcoming holiday in Sousse.
He had spoken to Mr Wilkinson in the past and remembered him because he wasn't aggressive or shouting like many other people he dealt with.
He said he referred Mr Wilkinson to the FCO website and told him the overall level of advice had not changed.
Mr Wilkinson, 72, went ahead with his holiday and died from a gunshot wound to the neck when Seifeddine Rezgui went on his murderous rampage.
Mr Wilkinson's wife Rita survived by hiding in a luggage room at the hotel.