The call for elections on July 23 has caused concern both among tourism companies and among clients, confirm travel agencies, airlines and hotels consulted. Not so much because it will significantly affect demand as because of the dance of date changes and refunds of the amount of reservations and plane tickets that occur among the people who are part of the polling stations.
“If we except two regional calls, such as Galicia and the Basque Country, which did hold elections in summer, elections had never been called in the middle of the summer season; Calling the elections in the third week of July does not exactly favor the issuing tourist group, taking into account the good data that we have to date on sales forecast for the season, â€says Juan Molas, president of the Tourism Board.
The manager of the Acave travel agency association, Catiana Tur, rules out a notable impact on the demand because there are a large number of travel reservations already contracted. However, the last minute, which are usually concentrated in June, could slow down while waiting for the citizens to clarify if they are going to have to go to the tables.
Since Pedro Sánchez announced the electoral advance, in Acave they have received a large number of inquiries from their associated companies to find out how to act. Concerned customer calls are constant. Tur clarifies that in the event that a person cancels a trip for being appointed a member of the polling station, the conditions with which he contracted the service will apply. Specifically, in the event that the traveler “cancels a trip for being appointed a member of the electoral table, the general and particular conditions referring to the cancellation of the trip by the traveler would be applicable, with the cancellation expenses that derive from them”.
Instruction 6/2011, of April 28 of the Central Electoral Board gives a list of cases that are causes of impediment to form part of the polling stations, and travel is not among them. Even so, Tur emphasizes that, based on experience with other local elections, “when a person has proven that he has a contracted trip in advance of the election date, he has been exempted.” “There is no absolute certainty that he will be free,” he clarifies, “but he can try.” They do recommend, however, taking out cancellation insurance for vacations that includes these assumptions. It is the way to recover the money in case they finally have to cancel the trip.
Among the airlines, Vueling has not registered anomalies with the reservations in the case of the municipal ones of May 28. The general ones, however, coincide with the high summer season, which increases the chances of cases of affected passengers. Travelers who have contracted the flight change in the reservation may modify the date of the trip. Otherwise, they can also take advantage of what they consider “justified reasons” to request the refund. In the event that the passenger has already started their trip and needs to return to their place of origin to be part of the polling station, Vueling ensures that it will facilitate changing the return flight at no additional cost.
In Iberia they explain that they will facilitate the change or refund of the ticket to the clients summoned at the polling stations. Level will also offer a refund, they point out from the airline, and will give away another additional flight to those affected.
