The Slovak Foreign Affairs Ministry began to act as soon as it was contacted by Slovak tourists stranded in Turkey after travel agency Karya Tours announced that it was going bankrupt, the TASR newswire was told on July 10. The ministry looked into the situation and also called on Turkish hotel managers to be lenient with the Slovak tourists, who did not cause their own problems.
More than one thousand Slovak tourists have been stranded abroad and another four thousand have not yet made it to their holiday destinations after Karya Tours, which specialised in trips to Turkey and Egypt, went bankrupt on July 10. Karya Tour's clients are being forced to end their holidays, with hotel managers at the holiday destinations refusing to accommodate them, claiming that services have not been paid for.
“We (the Slovak Foreign Affairs Ministry) got in contact with the Turkish Foreign Affairs Ministry as well as the governor of the region in which the stranded tourists are at the moment. Our consulate in Istanbul is also active,” reads a statement issued by the Ministry on Saturday.
Karya Tour was insured against bankruptcy by Allianz, which is currently trying to resolve the situation, either by providing alternative accommodation or transport home. The travel agency claimed on Friday that the problems were caused by the bankruptcy of its partner, international company Sunspot.
Slovak insurer Allianz-Slovenská Poisťovňa will send extra aircraft this week to bring home tourists currently stranded in Antalya, Turkey, TASR was told on July 11. More than 140 holiday-makers from Slovakia and the Czech Republic arrived at 7:00 on Sunday at Bratislava airport. The Slovak embassy in Ankara told TASR that the bankrupt travel agency's clients stopped contacting the Slovak representation office for help over the weekend. Nobody has asked for financial aid, said the embassy.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
