The validity of the travel vouchers that have been issued since last year will be extended by two months to fourteen months. The Stichting Garantiefonds Reisgelden (SGR) informed NU.nl about this on Tuesday.
The validity of the first issued vouchers ends on March 17, but Brussels has not yet given the green light for the so-called voucher bank, where money could be borrowed to pay back the money to consumers. As a result, tour operators threatened to run into problems.
A total of around 600 million euros is outstanding in vouchers. Travel industry organization ANVR introduced the vouchers in mid-March last year as an alternative to the immediate refund of the countless trips that suddenly had to be canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Those vouchers were valid for one year. In the meantime, they could be exchanged for another vacation, but after a year they had to be paid back anyway. Because travel organizations still have no income, the government came to the aid of the sector.
A voucher fund was set up, from which tour operators could lend money to pay back the consumer. That is a form of state aid, which is why Brussels must give permission for it. But there is not yet one. SGR director Erik Jan Reuver says he expects that permission will be given within two months.
Furthermore, consumers whose expiration date has passed and who have a zero appeal to the tour operator can submit a claim to the SGR from Wednesday. “This can be done up to two months after the expiry date,” says Reuver. The SGR assures consumers that they will get their money back anyway.
This only concerns vouchers issued with an SGR guarantee.
– .
