A family from Cumbria were left “stressed and disappointed” after their four-day Lapland holiday was disrupted by a lack of snow. Lisa O’Neil, her husband Wayne and son Finn spent their savings on a £3,482 trip through operator Tui. However, the family’s husky ride, snowmobile trip and reindeer encounter were all cancelled due to a lack of snow. On its website, the travel company states, “If we think there’s not enough snow to run the itinerary… you’ll have the opportunity to amend to something else or choose not to travel”. The family had raised concerns based on weather forecasts, but Tui believed they would be able to go ahead with the activities.
Mrs O’Neil said that although the resort looked beautiful when they arrived, they were aware that the weather forecast was “always in the back of our minds”, with temperatures rising and snow melting. All activities scheduled for Monday were cancelled and the family were told that they “wouldn’t be entitled to any refunds if [they] cancelled the holiday [themselves]”. Although the O’Neil’s were able to recoup €15 for meal costs, the snow experiences were cancelled twice. Finn, who is seven, had picked up on the situation and his parents kept him happy and not upset.
The family were offered a 50% refund for their holiday, but requested a full refund instead, as they believed that Tui should have rescheduled their trip. Mrs O’Neil submitted a complaint to the travel firm and said, “Tui took all of our money and had that policy in place that gives you the peace of mind that Tui’s got your back, that they’ve got you covered and your life savings are in safe hands and your children can have the holiday that they deserve”. A spokesman for the company said that they have been in direct contact with all affected guests to provide a resolution.
Although Tui apologised for the unseasonal weather conditions that affected their customers, there is still no information provided on its website about the impact of climate change on its Lapland holidays. The BBC suggested that instead of having a “no snow, no go” policy, Tui should address its impact on the environment. Political leaders are urging travellers to reconsider flying, as the aviation industry contributes to almost 5% of all man-made global warming.
*This article was generated by an AI language model and was not written by a human
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