Travel to the Middle East has been heavily disrupted following US and Israeli strikes on Iran at the weekend, and retaliatory attacks by Iran. Several countries in the region, including the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, have closed their airspace.
The Foreign Office is advising against all but essential travel to the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait, and fresh advice has been issued for Cyprus – where a UK air base has been hit – and other neighbouring destinations including Saudi Arabia, Oman and Jordan.
'Our hotel has been bombed'
Travel Counsellor Sandra Bell: 'It was a WhatsApp message I never want to see again' (Credit: Sandra Bell)
Travel Counsellor Sandra Bell is based in Saudi Arabia where her husband is the country manager for Virgin Atlantic in the Middle East. She told TTG they heard a few explosions over the weekend, and were told to stay home, but that life has largely gone back to normal on Monday (2 March).
She did, however, have a client in the Fairmont Dubai, where a fire broke out following an Iranian air strike. "He was thrown and his patio doors blew off. The hotel were amazing, but he chose to leave as his wife was very shaken. I am in touch with him daily.
"It was a WhatsApp message I never want to see again. I had already welcomed him to Dubai on a message earlier and arranged an early check in so had been speaking to him about that. Then lying on the sofa, it popped up – 'our hotel has been bombed!'
“I called him and he told me what was happening but there was nothing on the news at that point. I emailed the sales director, who did not even know about it. I was looking for an alternative hotel for him immediately. The hotel were really looking after their customers though so cannot fault them.
“He has moved to stay with family now as he was not happy to be in that area.”
Industry crisis response 'sharper'
Dorking Travel’s Alistair McLean has helped several clients this weekend, including a couple who were in Dubai and able to stay with friends “which made it easier,” he said.
Although many clients have been understanding about the situation, he thinks a knock-on effect will be an increase in nervous clients. “I have a client travelling to Luxor tomorrow evening who wanted to cancel," he explained.
"I advised waiting in case the Foreign Office advice does change between now and their departure. If they cancel now, while the advice says you can go, they won’t get any refund.”
He praised tour operators, including Lusso and Exsus, for how proactive they had been advising agents in a fast-moving situation. “As an agent, it makes me feel encouraged we have chosen the right tour operator partners – I do think the industry’s crisis response is sharper these days. We learnt a lot from Covid.”
However, he feels customers still have short memories. “We did see a surge of customers turning towards agents after Covid and that bubble burst pretty recently. Today, I will be sending a release to my local press reinforcing why customers should book with an agent, because when a crisis like this takes place, we care for them."
'I know my efforts will lead to future bookings'
The Travel Snob’s David Walker spent his weekend helping clients, including an extended family who were flying in from London, Madrid and Sydney for a reunion in Dubai, a booking worth £40,000.
“As soon as I saw it on the news, I was straight into my bookings,” he said. “Jetset have been amazing. We initially moved the flights from Virgin Atlantic to Emirates before cancelling. My Sydney client was actually in the check-in queue when his flight was cancelled."
Walker said he spent four-and-a-half hours on hold with Gold Medal. "I don’t understand why they didn’t draft in more staff,” he told TTG.
He added: "I’ve lost my commission because the clients got full refunds. But I’ve had nothing but praise from them so I know it will lead to future bookings."
Walker also said he had clients both in Dubai and the Maldives. “The client in Dubai has a young family so is understandably nervous and I am doing my best to reassure them. The clients in the Maldives less so. They’d be quite happy to extend their holiday there as long as they need to."
'Hand on heart, we have this nailed down'
Lisa McAuley, managing director of World Travel Holdings UK, told TTG this was her first big crisis in the role and the company’s usual crisis management was kicking in: “I would not say it was a frantic weekend. It was more unexpected to a large degree but when it happened the usual wheels of motion kicked in. The challenge for us has been the transit customers coming back from Asia and Australia.
"I'm just writing our staff newsletter for March and I've said we can deal with volatility in the world these days. I can tell you hand on heart that we've got this nailed down. This doesn't lessen the severity of the situation, we're just consummate professionals."
Julia Lo Bue-Said, OBE, chief executive at Advantage Travel Partnership, said Advantage agents had been working around the clock to support customers over the weekend, and advised any British travellers in the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar to register with the UK government's crisis portal. "Registering is the only way to receive direct alerts regarding evacuation flights or safety corridors."
Although Cyprus was the most recent destination to be impacted with airline cancellations, she advised this was likely a precaution: "The incident was very localised and the FCDO has not advised against travel to Cyprus, which remains 'green' for visitors following sensible precautions."
Short-haul shift?
Some agents feared it would affect client confidence, with Designer Travel's Moira Lumsden reporting that a client due to travel to Abu Dhabi in June had already cancelled, while Claire Dudley from Ponders Travel reported a more measured response, with clients keeping faith for now that the crisis would blow over within a couple of weeks.
Lumsden added: "I have two clients stuck in Phuket who are anxious to get home to their dog and because of work. Although they are grateful and thankful for the way they've been looked after by myself and the tour operator Travel Dad / Glen Travel. My solo gentleman in Singapore is quite chilled and loving his extended holiday."
Lizzie Adamson-Brown of Rhythm and Routes told TTG that since the announcement the UK was allowing the US to use its airforce bases, there had been a shift in her enquiries to more short-haul.
She typically does a lot of long-haul using Dubai heavily as a gateway. That business had been growing as a result of client reluctance to fly via the US. “As a travel team, as ever we’ll deal with it together – and let’s all be kind," she added.
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