The Middle East crisis has brought a monopoly on tourism offerings to southern Gran Canaria. The German tour operator TUI has canceled or postponed trips to the region following the US and Israeli airstrikes against Iran. The alternative in southern Gran Canaria: The company announced on its website the active cancellation of all trips to Israel departing up to and including March 8th.
A company spokesperson stated that TUI currently has no guests in Israel. TUI does not own hotels in the country; travel packages are arranged upon request. Currently, no trips to Israel are booked through TUI. However, the mention of travel to Israel is included in the advertisement as a formality, given the travel warning issued by the German Federal Foreign Office.
Trips to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, and Bahrain with departure dates up to and including March 2 are also canceled. Trips to the UAE with departure dates between March 3 and 6 (inclusive) are also canceled. The difference between canceled and postponed trips is important for travel agencies: in the case of postponed trips, they can rebook their guests. In the case of postponed trips, an alternative trip must be booked from scratch.
All trips to the affected areas with a departure date up to and including March 8, which have not yet been canceled by the airline, can be rescheduled or canceled free of charge. The airline stated that it is constantly monitoring the situation and developments in the Middle East. TUI Travel UK, the British subsidiary of TUI, warned on its website that flights to and from the UK may be delayed or canceled. The airline will contact customers who have booked holidays in the region up to and including March 8.
The German government is preparing to send planes to the Middle East to repatriate stranded German tourists. The planes will be sent to Muscat, Oman, and the Saudi capital, Riyadh, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul announced in Berlin. He added that the airspace there remains open, but that safety is the top priority. He confirmed that he had spoken with Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr and that the airline has the necessary capacity.
In addition to Lufthansa, we are also in contact with TUI and the German Travel Association. Special attention is being paid to the repatriation of vulnerable people, such as children, the sick, and pregnant women. The federal government may charter private planes at taxpayers' expense and, as a last resort, use aircraft from the German Armed Forces. However, some details still need to be clarified. For example, it is unclear how many people could be accommodated at the respective locations from which evacuations might take place.
Thousands of travelers are currently stranded in the crisis-stricken region, under missile fire. Due to the conflict between Israel, the United States, and Iran, many German travelers were also stranded in the Middle East and other parts of the world over the weekend. Airports and cruise ships, especially in the Gulf region, were at a standstill.
