{"id":21578,"date":"2013-05-26T00:03:40","date_gmt":"2013-05-26T04:03:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=21578"},"modified":"2013-05-26T00:03:40","modified_gmt":"2013-05-26T04:03:40","slug":"sri-lankans-must-be-careful-about-embarking-on-a-grand-tour-of-europearranged-by-a-well-known-local-travel-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=21578","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lankans Must Be Careful About Embarking on a “Grand Tour of Europe”Arranged by a Well Known Local Travel Company"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Anura Gunasekera<\/strong><\/p>\n

Recently, my wife and I participated in a “Grand Tour of Europe “, arranged by a well known local travel company. The programme commenced with a flight from Colombo to Paris, from where we travelled by coach to a series of destinations in Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria and Switzerland, ending in Rome a fortnight after commencement.<\/p>\n

The tour fee, per person, was substantial and, on the basis of advertisements and connected brochures, covered “specific sites “at relevant destinations. Trustingly, we assumed that all major attractions in the sites that we visited would be included. A few days prior to commencement we were offered an \u2018extra day\u2019 in Rome, on payment of an additional fee, which many of us, including my wife and me, paid.<\/p>\n

A close scrutiny of the final itinerary, provided at a pre-tour briefing, indicated that the “additional day” was, in fact, a clever deception, as the return flight on the final day was scheduled for 3.15 pm and we were required to be at the Rome Fiumicino airport by 12 noon, for our flight to Sri Lanka. The additional payment merely provided us with an extra night\u2019s sleep in a hotel room in Rome. After leaving the hotel at 9.00am, we had just sufficient time to stop at a church, en route, before arriving at the airport.
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The attractive pre-tour advertisements emphasized a climb of the Eiffel Tower and a visit to the Notre Dame, amongst other attractions in Paris. In the event, we were merely taken to the foot of the Tower and advised by our guide that a climb was not on the itinerary. As for the Notre Dame cathedral, we were provided a glimpse of it from the bus as we drove past some distance away with the advice that as parking in the vicinity was prohibited, a visit was not possible. In Rome, a quick tour of the Vatican did not include the Sistine Chapel, unarguably, the finest attraction in the Vatican. These inadequacies apart, the pre-tour briefing, whilst extolling the attractions at each destination, carried absolutely no warning to the travellers about the difficulties and inconveniences that they would encounter.<\/p>\n

The 160 people from Sri Lanka who had signed on for this particular tour had been divided in to 4 groups, with each group being led by an individual provided by the tour company. In all our previous travels with other tour operators, without exception, the tour leader has been a senior employee of the company, with considerable experience in managing groups in foreign countries. The tour leader must possess country\/destination\/site \u2013 specific information which impact on the comfort and convenience of the travellers, to enable tour participants to be adequately prepared each day for what lay ahead. Since a major proportion of the participants were clearly in the over fifty age segment, such aspects were of paramount importance, as each day\u2019s coach travel ranged between 650 \u2013 400 km whilst the walking and climbing within the sites visited were also considerable.<\/p>\n

Our group of 40 was led by an individual who, much to our concern, had minimal awareness of the itinerary, sites to be visited and conditions which awaited us at each site\/destination. To most of our inquiries his standard response was that we should ask either our Italian coach driver or wait to speak to whichever guide assigned to us at any particular destination. Since the driver spoke only Italian and clearly not inclined to be helpful even otherwise, he was of no assistance to us. As for the guides, they conducted us through different sites and disappeared in to their respective backgrounds no sooner their time was up. In a couple of cities they were not with us even for half an hour.<\/p>\n

When questioned regarding his clear lack of competence, to our absolute consternation, our tour leader revealed that he was not an employee of the tour company but a paying passenger similar to any one of us, and that he had agreed to lead the group as a favour to a senior manager of the travel company, who was his good friend.<\/p>\n

Firstly, it was totally reprehensible of the travel company to have entrusted paying clients on a gruelling journey across Europe, to an incompetent amateur, who had no professional interest in the efficient discharge of his responsibilities. Secondly, it was duplicitous of the company to have withheld this all important information from their clients. This unacceptable inadequacy resulted in daily inconveniences and discomfort for members of the group and effectively prevented us from fully enjoying the tour.<\/p>\n

The hotel meals during the tour, particularly the dinners, were dreary in their bland sameness irrespective of the destination, and were a far cry from the ” three course dinners “, assured by the pre-travel brochures. The daily lunch arrangements, except for two destinations, were in fast food outlets which were perfect duplicates of Mac Donalds and \/or KFC. Sampling a country\u2019s cuisine is a major attraction of international travel but the miserly menus and the impossibly tight travelling arrangements, made absolutely no concession to this important requirement. A limited time for shopping was extracted from the tour leader, at one or two destinations, after fierce argument.<\/p>\n

This absence of professionalism and lack of concern for the client was clearly illustrated during the tour, in the course of an exchange between a few tour members of our group, including my wife, and a very senior representative of the tour company who led one of the other groups. To a perfectly valid and legitimate concern, courteously expressed by a lady member of the group, the tour company representative\u2019s crass response was that if she was unhappy with the arrangements, that she should leave the tour immediately and that arrangements could be made to refund the money paid by her to the tour company.<\/p>\n

Delivered as it was by such a senior company representative, that arrogant, insensitive and unprofessional response clearly encapsulates the company\u2019s lack of concern for the welfare of the client. The message seems to be , once the clients\u2019 money is irretrievably in the coffers of the company, the client must , without protest, swallow any treatment meted out by the company, however unpalatable that may be. It is an unpleasant experience when one pays for a tour and, instead, is taken for a “ride”.<\/p>\n

A comprehensive and detailed email , supported and endorsed by several of my fellow travellers, addressed by me to the company immediately after our return, elicited a telephone response from a senior manager of the company some days later, with the suggestion of a personal meeting to discuss the issues I had outlined. I am also aware that there have been several written complaints from other members of our group since our return. However, up to the time of writing the promised meeting has not transpired and given this seeming lack of enthusiasm to address the inadequacies I had pointed out, none of which were denied during our above telephone conversation, it is clear that the travel company is not contemplating any meaningful remedial action. This is notwithstanding the fact that during our conversation, I informed the company representative that it was my intention to publicize our grievances if no action was forthcoming.<\/p>\n

The purpose of this letter is to warn all would be travellers, of what could await them in a foreign country, once their money is in the hands of an unscrupulous travel company. The intention is not to tar all travel and tour operators with the same brush as I am certain that there are other companies which will, honestly, deliver value for money. We have travelled with such companies before. However, irrespective of the service provider , I would advise any traveller proposing to undertake such a tour, to read the brochures , handouts and other literature with great care, ask as many questions as possible, read between the lines where appropriate and, prior to payment, obtain written confirmation from the tour operator in regard to actual deliverables. We learnt a harsh lesson at considerable cost, entirely because we assumed transparency and the delivery of value for money from the service provider. It would be both a salutary lesson and a public purpose served if others benefit, without cost, from our expensive mistake.<\/p>\n

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by Anura Gunasekera Recently, my wife and I participated in a “Grand Tour of Europe “, arranged by a well known local travel company. The programme commenced with a flight from Colombo to Paris, from where we travelled by coach to a series of destinations in Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria and Switzerland, ending in …<\/p>\n

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