28th January 2020

To All members,

Sub: Cancellations due to Coronavirus and our request to hotels and airlines not to levy cancellation/retention charges

Dear Colleagues,

We have received email/telephone calls from some of our members that cancellations are being received by them especially from China due to Coronavirus as restrictions have been made for travelers going to and coming from China . Similarly Indian Government has also issued advisory for the India Travellers to not to travel to China. In this regard, advisories have been issued by General Office of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Government of China and China Association of Travel Services and have advised suspending domestic and foreign group travel and have requested to properly handle the reasonable demands of tourist itineraries, cancellations and refunds and minimize financial losses. (copies enclosed).  All this is being done to ensure that Coronavirus does not spread into our country.

We have been informed by some of the members that hotels and Airlines are not agreeing to waive off cancellations charges for such cases or refund the advance payment made for booking of hotel rooms/air tickets.   

The matter has been taken up with FAITH, FHRAI, HAI, IHHA, ITDC and all the big hotel chains to advise all the hotels to honour such cancellations and do not charge the Cancellation charges and make full refund in case of advance payment as per force majeure clause, which is beyond any one’s control.

Similar letters have been sent to Air India, IndiGo, Vistara and Spice Jet with the request that there should be nil cancellations on their domestic sectors for such cancellations.

We have also requested the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India to advise all the hotels and airlines not to charge the cancellation fee.

We need to keep our country’s image high in such a situation and cooperate with foreign counterparts/clients in this difficult time.

The above is for your information.

With regards,

Pronab Sarkar                                  Rajiv Mehra

President                                         Vice President