Another Tragedy

Sadly, it won't have escaped your notice that there have been several high profile holiday accidents in the last year or so. The two latest ones, the Costa Concordia tragedy and the French coach crash have really highlighted a bad time for the travel industry. Of course, there have been different reasons for the accidents and I'm not suggesting that there is a one-stop solution that would have meant that these holiday accidents could have been prevented. So, is it just a very bad coincidence, or could more have been done to prevent these accidents abroad? French Coach Crash - Who's Possibly to Blame? The common theme to the accidents seems to be human error. Without wishing to pre-judge the outcome of any investigations, the evidence in the French coach crash points toward the driver falling asleep at the wheel. If that does turn out to be the cause, then questions will be asked of the Tour Company Interski to try and identify if there had been sufficient rest breaks etc planned. Perhaps more importantly, whether those breaks had been taken. For me, this particular case has stark similarities to the tragic accident in South Africa in which 3 students died in June 2010. I am still dealing with a compensation claim arising out of that particular incident and my understanding is that the authorities are yet to conclude their investigations. For that reason, the exact cause is unknown, but again driver error has been widely implicated. Holidaymaker Safety I really do hope that the latest tragedy will bring some very sharp focus on the safety of holidaymakers and travellers, because it simply has to be the main priority for the travel industry. The industry itself has gone through a very difficult time in the last few years, with Thomas Cook's shares collapsing like a broken sunlounger, the volcanic ash plume bringing most of Europe's flights to a halt and major tour operators going out of business, to name but a few. The industry really needs to keep going and keep positive. My view is that people still want to go on holiday and although the official figures show a slow down in foreign travel, it is only very small. I think people will become a bit more innovative about how they book their holidays and where they go and of course, they will be more cautious about spending money. That means that in theory there will be less money to be earned within the industry, but I really hope that means that the holiday companies don't cut corners with safety to bridge the financial gap. If the holiday companies do put profits first ahead of safety, it will inevitably lead to more holiday complaints and more holiday compensation claims. That would certainly not be a good thing for an industry that needs a bit of a boost anyway. For more information you can visit the website!