Crazy weather indeed and similarly, bizarre weather was recently experienced on the East Coast of Lanzarote last week as it was reported that the equivalent of a whole year worth of rain fell in some parts, including the popular resort of Costa Teguise.
A number of hotels were forced to close due to extreme flooding and a small number of holidays had to be cancelled due to the lack of accommodation available due to the Easter holidays. Thankfully we were able to re-locate our customers to alternative hotels and most impacted hotels are now back operating as normal.
If this type of event happens to you and you are booked on a package holiday then it does lie with the responsibility of your tour operator to look after you and your booking and if an alternative can not be found you should be offered a full refund.
Once again, the importance of having a holiday that is ATOL protected plays its part in these circumstances, as if you have booked separately you would be responsible to source new accommodation, quite often at a higher price as you will be looking for last minute availability.
Travelling to Thailand this year? Thailand are to introduce a mandatory ‘Digital Arrival Card’ for arrivals from May 1 to replace its paper arrival form which arrivals currently fill out on-board their flight.
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) has updated its travel advice with details including the correct link on which to apply.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand said: The TDAC is part of the government’s broader digital transformation of immigration procedures and is administered by the Immigration Bureau of Thailand.
It is designed to streamline border processing, reduce paperwork, and enhance traveller convenience.”
There is no charge for the TDAC and so be wary if you do apply and it is asking for payment you will most certainly be on a scam website, our best advice for any form of entry requirement is to always go through the FCDO website link under ‘entry requirements’.
The form should be completed within 3 days of arrival and after submitting the form you will receive a confirmation that will need to be presented at immigration either in paper format or digitally.
Have you booked your 2027 holiday yet? I can’t believe that P&O Cruise Lines will this week be launching their summer 2027 programme whilst many of us are still hoping to get summer 2025 booked in. More on this next week when we will see what new itineraries will be on offer, I am really excited and hope we will see some fabulous new destinations on offer.
May remained the top selling month last week with 16% share and June was second with 12% share of the bookings. Late bookings were 35% share of the total bookings. Cruise share was 19% although we expect this to increase in the next few week due to the P&O launch.