Although it was thought that opening the borders to enter Greece was the only obstacle to reaching the sea, many tourists could also miss this summer due to problems with Greek tour operators.
What will happen to the arrangements of tourists from Serbia, mediated by the Greek-Russian tour operator “Muzenidis Travel”, which these days is massively canceling reservations for travel agencies across Europe?
Apparently, everything will depend on whether one of the largest tour operators for Greece stays in business or the legal successors of the company, whose owner passed away in April due to the corona virus, do not have the capacity to do so.
The owners of agencies from Serbia, for whom the Greek “Muzenidis” was one of the most important partners for the Greek market, say that the second scenario is more certain because how else to explain the fact that someone cancels arrangements to passengers who are already practically at the hotel’s destination.
The travel agency “Barcino Tours” announced yesterday and informed the passengers that all arrangements paid through this tour operator will be realized because the money was re-paid directly to the hotels so that the passengers would not be damaged.
– The agency with which we have been successfully cooperating for years suddenly canceled some hotel accommodation reservations in Greece. We claim that none of our passengers will be harmed and that they will realize all their vacation plans that they paid for through our agency. We have re-booked accommodation and re-paid all previous reservations. All costs are borne by “Barcino Tours”, and our clients will not have to pay absolutely anything and will not have any additional costs – it is stated in the announcement of this agency.
As Maja Mladenovic, PR of this travel agency, told “Politika”, the foreign partner canceled all reservations at the last minute because, according to their information, as a large tour operator, they have the right to do so even a day before the date when the arrangement begins.
– Back in April, when the owner of this agency passed away, we stopped selling arrangements through them, and we paid all the existing ones directly to the hotels so that passengers would not have problems. It will be the same in the future, for all agreed arrangements, so, if they happen to be canceled, the agency will bear all the costs for those who want to travel – says Mladenovic.
She adds that their agency paid the money on time, but the Greek partner simply canceled the reservations not only to our agencies but also in other countries, including Russia, which is their biggest customer.
When asked what they expect in the future, whether it is only a formal-legal problem, as it was said in public, or the Greek tour operator is leaving work, the agency says that they do not believe that the cooperation will continue.
Most domestic agencies have so far sold arrangements in northern Greece in cooperation with Muzenidis, and there have been no problems until this summer. Everyone agrees that it will be a big problem if they cancel the whole season instead of one shift, and that is more and more certain.
The tourist inspection says that the citizens, according to the law, have the right to get their money back within 15 days, if they do not want a replacement trip. If that does not happen, the citizens should contact them, and the tourist inspection will initiate a misdemeanor procedure and revoke the license of the agency, Politika reports.
