Eliana Willis

The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has convened an emergency session of its executive council in response to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
The session will be held in Madrid on March 8th.
Following the request of Guatemala, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia and Ukraine for the suspension of the Russian Federation from membership of UNWTO, the UNWTO secretary general has called the session.
The decision was made following consultations between the secretary general and the chair of the executive council, from Côte d´Ivoire.ADVERTISEMENTThe in-person council session will be held in Madrid.
It is the first time in history the executive council will address a request of this type.
Article 3 of the UNWTO statutes states that the fundamental principles of the organisation are the “promotion and development of tourism with a view to contributing to economic development, international understanding, peace, prosperity and universal respect for, and observance of, human rights”.
UNWTO has unequivocally condemned the actions of the Russian Federation, noting that they are a clear breach of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity and contrary to the principles enshrined in the UN charter.

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Alexey Mordashov has resigned his position on the supervisory board of Tui Group after being sanctioned by the European Union.
By some estimates the second richest man in the country, he has been hit by restrictions along with dozens of other wealthy Russians.
Sanctions can include an asset freeze on funds and assets held in the European Union, as well as travel bans on individuals.
Mordashov made his fortune off a majority stake in Russian steel company, Severstal.
The action was taken following the Russian invasion of Ukraine last week. ADVERTISEMENTThe aim of the EU sanctions is to prevent Mordashov from disposing of his shares in Tui Group.
This is to prevent him “from realising any proceeds or profits from his investment in Tui,” a statement from the company said.
As a result of the war in Ukraine triggered by Russia, the European Union issued new sanctions on February 28th, which additionally include further representatives of the Russian economy.
Mordashov has been a shareholder in Tui Group for around 15 years and currently holds around one third of the share capital in the company.
“The European Union sanctions relate to Mordashov as a person, not to Tui Group, in which he is a shareholder,” a statement added.
“In this respect, these sanctions against the shareholder have no impact on the company in which he holds shares.”
Fritz Joussen, chief executive of Tui Group, had earlier sought to minimise the relationship between Tui Group and its largest shareholder.
Earlier this week he said: “We assume that any restrictions or sanctions against Mordashov will not have any lasting negative consequences for us as a company.”

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Alexey Mordashov, the largest shareholder in Tui Group, has been sanctioned by the European Union.
By some estimates the second richest man in the country, he has been hit by restrictions along with dozens of other wealthy Russians.
Sanctions can include an asset freeze on funds and assets held in the European Union, as well as travel bans on individuals.
Mordashov made his fortune off a majority stake in Russian steel company, Severstal.
The European Union and United States have led sanctions against wealthy Russians and the Russian state as the country launches an invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.
Fritz Joussen, chief executive of Tui Group, sought to play down the connection.
“Some of you have also asked me about our largest single shareholder Alexey Mordashov and our position with him.
“Mordashov has been a TUI shareholder for around 15 years and has held about a third of our company since he propped it up during the Covid-19 crisis,” he said.
“Two thirds of our shareholders are from Germany, the EU, the UK, the US or are funds.
“Mordashov is also one of 20 representatives on the supervisory board elected by shareholders at the annual general meeting. ADVERTISEMENT“However, our company is run by the executive board, like any German public limited company, and not by the shareholders or the supervisory board.
“We therefore assume that any restrictions or sanctions against Mordashov will not have any lasting negative consequences for us as a company.”
Joussen added Tui itself was no longer represented with companies in Russia and Ukraine.
He continued: “As you know, we sold our shareholdings in the tour operators in Russia and Ukraine some time ago.
“However, in order to ensure the safety of our customers, we will make or have already made adjustments in some areas, such as flight routes and cruise destinations.
“We are in contact with the employees of service providers in Ukraine who work for us and are supporting them as best we can to keep themselves and their families safe.
“TUI Cruises is also intensively looking after crew members from Ukraine who are employed on board our fleet of ships.”
In a statement released through the Tass news agency in Russia, Mordashov said he was shocked by the decision.
“I have never been close to politics and have always focused on building economic value at the companies I have worked for both in Russia and abroad, creating jobs and supporting local communities.
“I have absolutely nothing to do with the emergence of the current geopolitical tension and I do not understand why the EU has imposed sanctions on me,” the businessman said.
“For a very long time, I have been engaged in the development of economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation with many European countries and I fail to understand how these sanctions against me will contribute to the settlement of the dreadful conflict in Ukraine.”

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The High Court has confirmed Truly Travel and Alpha Holidays, which traded as Teletext Holidays and Alpharooms respectively, failed to appropriately refund customers.
In a case brought by the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA), the companies were found to have breached Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations (PTRs).
These required them to refund customers for package holidays that were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic within 14-days.
The CMA sought a declaration from the High Court in this case to highlight the importance of travel firms respecting consumers’ refund rights.
The body said it wants to ensure that “people can book package holidays with confidence, knowing that their legal rights will be respected if their holiday is cancelled due to unavoidable circumstances outside their control”.ADVERTISEMENTThis court action follows a significant programme of consumer protection law enforcement work by the CMA in the package travel sector, which has secured hundreds of millions of pounds in refunds for people whose holidays were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Because Truly Travel and Alpha Holidays have been placed into liquidation, Teletext Holidays or Alpharooms package travel customers with outstanding refunds are encouraged to submit a claim to the Travel Trust Association (TTA), which is now responsible for these.
Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA, said: “This should be a wake-up call to any business that thinks that it doesn’t need to honour customers’ refund rights.
“Today’s ruling confirms the CMA’s view that Teletext Holidays and Alpharooms broke the law by not providing the refunds customers were due within 14 days for cancelled package holidays.
“While this ruling comes after these firms have been placed in liquidation, we hope the decision will make it easier for people to get their money back for a cancelled holiday in the future.
“Customers of Teletext Holidays and Alpharooms with outstanding refunds should get in touch with the Travel Trust Association.”
The CMA launched court action against Truly Holdings, and its subsidiaries Truly Travel and Alpha Holidays, last year, over outstanding refunds owed to customers.
Truly Holdings had previously signed formal commitments, known as undertakings, requiring them to use all reasonable endeavours to pay outstanding refunds to passengers in an agreed schedule, and to ensure that all refunds due for cancelled package holidays going forward were paid within 14-days.
When the CMA found that Truly Holdings was not fully abiding by these undertakings, the CMA took the company to court.
The court claim for refunds was stayed – paused indefinitely – after the firms entered liquidation, but the CMA continued to seek a declaration from the court that these companies broke the law.
This has resulted in the ruling made today.
Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said: “Teletext Holidays attempted to shirk its legal responsibilities to refund customers within 14-days for cancelled trips, leaving its exasperated customers out of pocket for years.
“Holidaymakers have been badly let down, but this important court ruling means they should finally be able to claim the money back they are owed.
“Teletext is not the only holiday company to break the law over refunds in recent years.
“The government must ensure there are better protections for holidaymakers’ money by giving regulators stronger powers to take action against companies that break consumer law – including the ability to impose fines if necessary.”

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Fraudsters are setting up bogus companies to sell imaginary flights and offering fake refunds to extract bank details and steal money as international travel reopens, Which? has warned.
The pandemic has provided new opportunities for fraudsters to exploit victims.
Covid-19-related scams spawned from rapidly-evolving travel rules; coupled with widespread desperation for holidays after months of lockdown, this has created the perfect conditions for cybercrime.
Even Brexit legislation has been leapt on by some unscrupulous traders as a chance to rip people off.
One of the cruellest scams has made victims out of people awaiting refunds for cancelled holidays.
Scammers are cold-calling travellers and impersonating airlines, travel agents and banks, claiming they need their bank details and personal information to process the refund.
But instead of doing so, they use this information to steal money from the customer, leaving them doubly out of pocket.
Which? has learnt of instances of fraudsters taking detailed steps to appear to be the business they are imitating, such as spoofing legitimate phone numbers and finding out booking details and exactly how much someone is owed.
A renewed appetite for holidays early in 2022 has left some families and individuals feeling under increasing pressure to secure their perfect getaway.
Rogue travel companies are selling fake flights and others are promoting some of the most popular stays with scam adverts on social media, offering apparent late or peak-season availability for holidays that appear to be sold out elsewhere, Which? research found. ADVERTISEMENTCustomers are enticed to click through to a website where they book and pay for a holiday that doesn’t exist.
Some unfortunate customers do not realise they have been defrauded until they turn up at the airport or at their accommodation and find they are unable to check in.
The National Health Service has also been imitated by criminals.
The NHS App gives proof of vaccination which can be used to gain entry to some of the most popular holiday destinations.
An email, containing a link to a website that looks like an official NHS platform, invites people to apply for a digital vaccine passport.
The email is in fact a phishing scam to steal personal information.
As fraudsters move swiftly to exploit new opportunities, Which? is calling on online platforms, banks and telecoms companies to do more to ensure their systems aren’t being exploited to target victims.
Added essential travel paperwork which emerged from Covid-19 and Brexit has also been used by unscrupulous companies to con people out of their money.
Which? has seen firms charging travellers as much as $99 (£75) for passenger locator forms, which can be obtained from the government for free.
When Which? carried out searches in November, 19 non-governmental results were returned on the first two pages of Google alone – all charging a fee.
Some appeared as an ad or ranked higher than the gov.uk site.
Similarly, some companies are charging fees for the GHIC (Global Health Insurance Card), which is free and was introduced to replace the EHIC after Brexit.
Which? has also found opportunists selling international driving permits for Spain for $49 (£36.25) – despite the permits costing just £5.50 from the Post Office.
Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said: “Criminals are exploiting the pandemic and the demand for holidays in a wide range of ways, laying new traps to trick unsuspecting travellers out of their money.
“Our advice for consumers is be wary of unsolicited calls and messages, and be cautious about holiday deals from unfamiliar firms.
“If you think you’ve been the victim of a scam, you should report this to Action Fraud and your bank.
“Anyone who is struggling to get their money back from their bank should contact the Financial Ombudsman Service to review their case.”

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