Travel firms change Europe tour itineraries after Brussels bombings

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Vietravel said that for safety reasons, it would ask customers for approval to change the Europe tour programs they have booked. After the terror attacks on an airport and a metro station in Brussels, Vietravel immediately contacted its Vietnamese customers in Europe and found they are all safe.

Vietravel’s 26 guests are in the Netherlands and will be traveling to Belgium this Saturday. The company is working with its partners and European tour guides to rearrange tour itineraries.

Other travel firms said they are keeping a close watch on the security situation in Europe and maintain regular contacts with their local partners to make preparations for their Vietnamese guests to travel to the continent later this month and early April.

Local travel firms said they had got no cancelations of European tours after the bombings in Belgium, which killed at least 31 people and injured 260 others as reported by Reuters.

According to the outbound tour department of a travel firm in HCMC, Vietnamese visitors to Europe often spend just one day in Belgium as it takes more days to visit France, the Netherlands, Italy and other European countries.

Vietnamese tourists have grown anxious about traveling to Europe since the terror attacks on Paris in November last year, according to travel firms. At that time, some customers aborted their bookings of Europe tours for fear of security in the French capital.

After the attacks in Belgium, Vietnam Airlines said it would operate flights between Vietnam and Europe as usual but stressed that it would intensify security for these services.

The national flag carrier allows passengers to get refunds and reschedule flights between Vietnam and Europe at no charge until March 31.