A major tour operator has resumed selling Tunisia holidays to UK customers for the first time since the Sousse massacre.
Thomas Cook is restarting its flight and holiday programme in the North African country after the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) eased its travel advice.
The FCO advised against all but essential visits following the June 2015 beach attack in which 30 Britons were killed, but this guidance was withdrawn for the majority of the North African country last month.
We’re pleased to be restarting our Tunisia programme from 13 Feb. Head of Customer Welfare Carol MacKenzie updates https://t.co/eKOfbXzUyt pic.twitter.com/1qp4WR7vvN
— Thomas Cook News (@ThomasCookNews) August 21, 2017
Thomas Cook resumed holiday sales to UK customers on Tuesday, with trips beginning on February 13 next year.
The firm’s group head of customer welfare, Carol MacKenzie, said: “We always follow UK government advice on where we can offer flights and holidays, because they are the experts in security.
“We also listen to our customers in where they want to go on holiday. Since it closed for British holidaymakers two years ago, we’ve had lots of customers asking us when Tunisia will be back on sale.
“Taking your loved ones anywhere is a serious decision and ultimately of course it’s up to you where you choose to go on holiday.
“You should always consult FCO travel advice before making your decision. Whichever Thomas Cook holiday you choose, you can always be assured that your safety is our first priority.”
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has eased its travel advice on Tunisia (Steve Parsons/PA)
Thomas Cook did not stop selling trips to French, German and Belgian holidaymakers after the Sousse attack as their governments did not recommend that their citizens should not visit Tunisia.
The FCO said last month that it kept its assessment of the risks faced by British nationals “under constant review” since the massacre.
Having “carefully reviewed conditions” in the country – including the threat from terrorism and improvements in the Tunisian security forces – the Government decided its travel advice should change.
Some 440,000 people from the UK visited Tunisia in 2014, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Demand was reportedly even higher during the following year, until the Sousse attack in which gunman Seifeddine Rezgui killed a total of 38 tourists.
Terror group Islamic State claimed responsibility.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here