No disruption to Bali travel

TOUR operators are advising
travel agents that there
has been no disruption to
services to Bali, despite
the imminent threat of a
volcanic eruption by Bali’s
Mount Agung. The Bali
Government Tourist Office
also maintains Bali is still
“safe for tourism”.
Thompsons Holidays has
not seen any cancellations
so far and has also not
seen a dip in bookings
for the destination, says
John Ridler, PR and media
manager. “Meteorologists
have estimated the volcano
won’t erupt further than
a 12km radius of Mount
Agung, so most holiday
destinations and beach
resorts are quite safe,” he
says.
The UK Foreign and
Commonwealth Office has
advised travellers to monitor
local media reports, follow
the advice of the local
authorities and stay outside
the exclusion zone, which
extends between nine and
12km from the crater.
The main challenge,
according to John, is that
airlines have warned that if
the volcano erupts, volcanic
ash clouds could result in
airport closures and flight
disruption in the region.
“However, so far there
has been no disruption to
flights,” he says.
The volcanic alert level
for Mount Agung has
been raised to level 4, the
highest level possible, which
indicates that an eruption is
‘possible within 24 hours’.
Over 100 000 people have
so far been evacuated from
the region in Indonesia.
“I would advise that
travellers make sure they
have adequate travel
insurance in the event that
something does happen,”
says Giles Clinton, director
of Checkout Tours.
Simmy Micheli, manager
sales and marketing
for TIC, explains that if
a client’s transport is
cancelled or the pre-paid
accommodation is damaged
to an uninhabitable extent
as a direct result of
weather conditions, TIC
will reimburse the nonrefundable
portions of
travel and accommodation
arrangements for which
travellers are liable, as
well as any reasonable
additional travel and
accommodation expenses
they might incur.
Simmy warns that the
cover kicks in if flights are
cancelled by the airline
as a result of the weather
conditions. “Disinclination
to travel is not covered on a
travel insurance policy.”