Rail tour specialist hit by France and Netherlands ban

The operator had relaunched its first escorted tours of the summer from London, but has now had to cancel all holidays via Eurostar “until at least the first week of September”.

“Unfortunately, following the latest government announcement that banned all non-essential travel to France and the Netherlands, customers due to travel will be left disappointed,” it said.

The operator has however resumed a reduced UK and Europe 2020 programme. Chief executive Peter Liney said: “It is frustrating that under the latest guidelines it is not currently possible to travel via rail into Europe.

“Our customers that are due to travel with us in September have told us that they do not want to fly and are disappointed that unless they do, they will not be able to get to their chosen destination.”

He said the timing and nature of how announcements are being made “is having a major impact on our customers, resulting in tours being cancelled at short notice and cutting off popular destinations, with much lower Covid death rates than the UK, to customers who prefer to holiday by rail”.

The operator is calling for the government to make allowances for rail travellers through countries where a travel ban is in place, in instances where they do not spend any time in the destination, something it said was already allowable for passengers transiting through airports.