A British tour operator has blasted four big tour operators in the UK for failing to pay millions of dollars owed to Caribbean hotels.
Paul Cleary, the owner and chief executive officer of Caribtours, swiped at his competitors, whom he described as “bullies” and urged regional hotels not to let up in their bid to get the money owed to them.
Cleary made the comments as he joined Aizaz Sheikh, the director of marketing at G Adventures headquartered in Canada, and Bob Thye, the senior Vice-President of the United States-based the Apple Leisure Group for a webinar hosted by the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) on Wednesday.
Just last month, Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association (CHTA) director-general Frank Comito called on one of the world’s largest leisure, travel and tourism companies, the TUI Group (Touristik Union International), to pay back Caribbean hotels and resorts for services the company received.
Last year, the CHTA appealed to tour operators who had failed to reimburse hotels for stays by mostly European travelers who had made their payments to the tour operators well in advance of their travel.
And Cleary has hinted that as a result of the actions of the large tour operators, hotels in the region had now altered their payment arrangements with all operators, even those who had been faithful partners over the years.
According to him: “Out of the UK and Caribbean, this has become a major talking point. There are four major, large tour operators who have not been paying their bills. There is no way to put this in diplomatic language. They have been starving those hotels by not paying them or by changing the payment terms and making them wait (for) three, four months before they receive their payments.
“I don’t believe there is a trust issue between tour operators in the UK and the Caribbean. I think there is a trust issue between those four big tour operators and the Caribbean and that needs to be sorted out.
“One of the things I am concerned about is that some destinations in the Caribbean are changing all their payments terms and all of their terms globally. It is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
“I am not the problem. Most of the operators in the UK aren’t the problem. I think there is great trust and there are great partners who honour [their commitments].”
Despite the collapse of the global tourism and leisure sector due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the British tour operator said regional hoteliers should stand their ground on this matter.
Said Cleary: “The Caribbean has had a real pasting from four very large operators.
“Now is the time to rise up, be strong and stand up to those bully tour operators and say that can’t continue. You have to do the right thing.”
