Tucan Travel 

afm I agree, we may have to take a class action to retrieve what is owed to us. I have written to the CEO and depending on the response this will be an option. We have had good experiences with Tucan but they way they are handling this crisis will have a long term detrimental impact on their business.

Traveled to Antarctica with a Tucan partner. It was cheaper to book through Tucan than directly with the ship operator. Antarctica was fantastic, like going to another planet.

We'd booked a South America trip in December, and when the Coronavirus situation seemed to be picked up, reached out to Tucan asking what would happen, and similar to a few of the previous posts, was told OVER EMAIL that if the FCO changed their stance, a refund would be in order. Now they're saying that they have decided not to offer refunds, only credit vouchers, and that "it's fair and other people are happy with that". However, what they're doing is ILLEGAL under the law, and now that they're qualified to received government aid, they are trying to keep their business afloat at the cost of consumers. We will be pursuing legal action, and you should do if you're in the same boat.

Takes you to the well known places effortlessly. Also stays at some less known places and supports the local community.

An absolutely disgusting company that is breaking the law. They canceled my trip due to Covid 19 and refuse to refund the money. I asked back in February what would happen if the Coronavirus spread, they replied in writing: 'If the FCO were to say it is not safe to travel and WE were to cancel the tour then you would get a refund.'

Now they are saying that they won't refund as it was hard to predict how the situation would unfold and then they decided to change their booking conditions on March 15th, however my trip was booked way before this date. If you knew that the situation was hard to predict why would you lie that I would get a refund?

Customer help site Which? advises that as FCO has advised against foreign travel you are entitled to receive A FULL REFUND and should not accept vouchers or credits. What Tucan Travel is doing is not only illegal but also immoral, there are a lot of people out there who are not able to use these credits or actually need THEIR money to live in these uncertain times. I'm seeking further legal action and if you are in the same position I suggest you do the same.

Extremely dishonest travel agency. Avoid doing business with them. Other travel agencies immediately offered refunds to their clients during this covid19 crisis. TUCAN REFUSES TO FOLLOW THE UK LAW AND REFUSES TO GIVE REFUNDS TO THEIR CUSTOMERS THAT ASK FOR IT. DO NOT ACCEPT THEIR OFFER OF VOUCHER if you are not planning to travel with them again.

OUR STORY Me and my partner had a 2week trip to South America organised by Tucan.

12-03-20 we enquire tucan about their stance since the Argentinian government had announced their guidelines for a 2week isolation period for travellers. We were told that "TUCAN as a british company follows only the FCO guidelines and that all tours were to continue to operate as normal". Strange reply given that even if we were to travel, we would have to go on a 2week isolation period.

13-03-20 we mention that the trip would not be possible given current isolation requirements. Tucan replies stating that is a UK registered company and therefore only adheres to the government advice taken from the UK FCO Advice Service. And that to this date the British government was still deeming Argentina safe to travel to. In practice we could not travel but Tucan was adamant that the tours were still to continue as planed. Tucan also stated in their email that "If this changes and the British government ban travel to Argentina a refund would be in order.".

14-03-20 FCO published new guidelines advising not to travel to Argentina. We wrote to Tucan asking for a refund of the payments made - not a compensation but only a refund. It was with a huge surprise that on the 16-03-20 Tucan: a) updated their new T&Cs on their website; b) wrote to us stating that our tour had been cancelled and we would not get a refund, only a credit voucher.

17-03-20 Despite of what is written in the UK law, Tucan's response to our refund requests was blunt: "we are sticking to our stance of a credit voucher of 110% and no refunds". Unbelievable that Tucan is refusing to honour the UK law which is on the consumer side and one can only assume that in paralel they are appling for government grants to cope with the covid19 crisis, while simultaneously keeping customers money.

20-03-20 Which - the largest independent consumer body in the UK just published an article "Coronavirus outbreak: advice for travellers". PLEASE READ THE SECTION "Can I get money back for a cancelled holiday?". It clearly states:
"The FCO advice against all foreign travel until 16 April means that airlines and travel agents are obliged to cancel flights and holidays, and issue refunds...However many companies are ignoring this requirement and are only offering consumers credit vouchers or the chance to reschedule...The law says you are entitled to a full refund so do not accept a voucher if you have any concerns"

03-04-20 Tucan replied to our formal complaint saying that the UK and EU laws don't apply in this case (covid?) and continues to refuse to refund us.

15-04-20 After filling a formal complaint with ABTA we got a response:
a) ABTA ignored and didn't mentioned the fact Tucan is not respecting the UK and EU law about refunds - shouldn't this body actually defend consumers interests?
b) our holiday pack is in theory financially protected if the company fails.
c) we should be understanding with Tucan, even after Tucan not respecting the law.

30-08-20 We pursued legal action and the first court hearing was scheduled for mid-Sep. Tucan wrote to us offering a refund but refusing to support any other costs (legal ones). We refused since submitting the process to court is a significant expense. The first court hearing advises both parties to try to reach an agreement.

01-12-20 The final hearing is scheduled for mid-Feb21. We tried several times to reach Tucan to attempt an agreement before court. Tucan only response so far states that this is an operational issue and will not deal with it at the moment.

15-12-20 The BBC published article “LoveHolidays to refund £18m for cancelled holidays”. This has a link to the CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) press release which has investigated hundreds of complaints with regard to this company.

We suggest everyone to look into the several UK/EU laws for travelling in specific for "Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018" and assess if your circumstances are subject for you to ask for a refund. Searching online and its easy to see most travel agencies are making an effort to refund their clients. Some minorities such as Tucan are trying to circumvent the law saying they will not issue refunds in the hopes that customers will blindly accept that. Please escalate to the relevant authorities/bodies including ABTA, CMA and to the small claims court.

Well my trip to Salt Flats to Sugarloaf has been cancelled due to FCO advise not to travel to certain areas in South America plus my flight form Europe on 02/04/2020 could not enter Peru to then take a flight to Bolivia where the tour started so Tucan travel had no choice to cancel the trip. So I phoned them today 16/03/2020 to be told my tour had been cancelled but I could not get a full cash refund. CEO has decided that every tour that has been cancelled will receive a 110% Credit Voucher mmm I don't want a credit voucher and I don't need to except that either I am entitled to a full cash refund which has been clarified by ABTA and my insurance company. No one should except a credit voucher unless they wish too. The CEO needs to re think his policy on this matter as I have now made an official complaint to ABTA on the advice of Tamara the Customer service lady I spoke to at Tucan travel today who told me to carry on and make a complaint to ABTA oh and to forward an email to them which will then be forwarded onto the CEO with my complaint.

An opportunity to see a LOTin a relatively short period of time. You are on the move every couple of days on a tour that is a step up from a backpackers holiday. Other than the accommodations in many less than average hotels, the tour enables you to experience 4 countries, a variety of food and sights, and many different modes of transport; from vans to boats to trains to planes to buses to tuk tuks, an interesting month.

I booked a tour to northern Morocco leaving on 11 April 2020 in good faith. We have daily monitored the WHO Coronavirus website as well as local Moroccan press sites.

Clearly,

Tucan Travel cannot guarantee a safe tour in Morocco (or any of the normal Western Europe transit countries to Morocco);
The World Health Organisation has now formally declared the situation as a Global Pandemic.

Insurance companies have publicly stated that they won’t cover medical cases arising from this virus;

My own insurance company has categorically stated they won’t cover medical costs or cancellation costs associated with this virus;

I understand that you only have 4 people on the tour (presumably including the 2 of us) – so it is highly unlikely that Tucan Travel could have proceeded with the tour in any case;

The tour is not due to start until the 11th April. The growth rate of infections (and deaths) is exponential (doubling every 5.5 days). This situation is clearly going to get a lot, lot worse before it gets better;
I note that as of a few days ago 10,000 tourists have cancelled trips to Morocco since 1st March – with the government expecting 100,000 cancellations before the end of March. I am obviously not alone in seeing the need to cancel my trip. The health and safety risk of travel to and in Morocco is very high and this is now clearly a FORCE MAJEURE situation.
……. And now this morning the USA is banning travel from Europe.


Refund of 50 percent of my costs is a bit tough due to circumstances beyond my control. Tucan Travel simply needs to do the right thing. I have not come to this necessary cancellation decision lightly. It is simply unsafe to travel to Morocco and we should be doing our bit to contain the virus by not travelling.

Amazing trip through Southern Africa. We witnessed nature at it's most incredible with trips to Victoria Falls, the Okavango Delta and Etosha National Park. Staying in tents next to wild elephants in Botswana was a particular highlight. I would recommend this trip to anyone

Fantastic trip so much to see in a short space of time
Hotels mixed and the hostels in the salt flats are VERY BASIC be warned but the scenery is amazing and travelling across the Salt Flats and the desert make it worthwhile. Enjoyed being with a small group and ending our tour in Rio at Carnival was fantastic.
Tucan do need to update some of the pre tour instructions e.g. yellow fever vaccine no longer necessary Luggage I brought soft case as instructed and there were so many with hard shell cases including the guide Would also like clarity on the extra dollars we had to give the tour guide the first day of the trip which seemed unnecessary and excessive

Tucan is a recommended outfit to considered when looking into group travel options. They are organized and attempt to cover all the bases in the respective locations that are showcased.

Their staff are very helpful and responsive with any questions you may have and are willing to deviated from the pre-composed schedule should you desire...

Additionally, I have found their prices points to be very competitive...

Everything about the way this tour was arranged and its delivery was beyond our expectations. When picking a tour company to take us through Peru we had no idea, and had never heard of Tucan Travel. We were extremely satisfied with all of the transportation options, the hotels chosen and the tours. In some cases the tours were private, some were small groups. Tucan Travel never missed a rendezvous or a meeting. We saw all of the sites that we wanted to in the way that we wanted to see them. I would not hesitate to use Tucan Travel again.

Very good travel company with excellent local guides with in depth knowledge of their countries. Small group tours with good transport and choices of hotels. Recommended.

The guide was really a driver.A lot of knowledge on names of bird,plants and place names. Tending to take me to shops where him or the tour compamy recieved a kick back.

Overall I am delighted that we chose Tucan Travel. We only had two pieces of negative feedback - the very first day the restaurant we stopped at was terrible. The food was a bland buffet that even the most naive of travelers would have found below standard. No one except tour buses of white Europeans were eating there.

The second issue was our hotel in Chiang Mai. Again, we have already alerted Tucan. While the location was great and the lobby impressive, the rooms had seen considerable wear and tear and were not up to standard. We changed rooms once and still had to have an engineer come to the second room to make a repair. The breakfast buffet was plentiful but only if you ate meat. We had requested lacto-ovo vegetarian and they found food but had to search after we requested.

The guide and driver were exceptionally skilled and knowledgeable. They went out of their way to make our experience memorable. All other hotels and dining experiences were as advertised or more. I would certainly recommend Tucan to our friends.

Great tour , great tour leader - nuff said . 👍🏻🇨🇷😎

Good itinerary. Packed in a lot in 12 days. Excellent guide and a good group of people to share the wonderful country of Costa Rica with. A few issues but all in all a very good holiday.

Loved our guide, costs reasonable and venues worth the see. Excellent overall.

A memorabke and fantastic trip. Tour guide and drivwr were brilliant. Met loads of new friends and saw amazing places