$5M travel compensation fund may not be enough to cover Sinorama customers

By Tina Yazdani

Their doors are shut for good, but it was a hectic day at one of Canada’s most popular travel agencies.

Sinorama Holidays Inc. announced last week they are shutting down their operations in Ontario, but only on Monday did some customers learn their dream vacations have been cancelled.

Many of them left the travel agency’s Markham offices shocked, disappointed and looking for answers.

CityNews couldn’t reach the owners on Monday, but did speak to Ontario’s travel regulator, TICO (Travel Industry Council of Ontario), about what customers should do in this situation.

“We’re here to assist them,” said TICO VP of operations Dorian Werda. “There’s a provincial compensation fund. It’s industry-financed.”

There is $22 million available in that fund, but a legislated cap of $5 million dollars per event. And that may not be enough to compensate all the customers affected in this particular situation. TICO says trips have been cancelled for at least 5,000 travellers.

“Currently we’re thinking we’ll be over the legislated maximum but it’s hard to say,” said Werda. “We’ll see when all the claims come in.”

TICO is encouraging customers to also check with their credit card companies to see if compensation is available that way.

The rough turn of events has a lot of travellers wondering how to avoid these situations.

“Sometimes it’s just luck of the draw, the chances of it happening are rare,” said luxury travel expert blogger Carol Perehudoff.

But she says there are ways to protect yourself.

Read all paperwork carefully, ask for recommendations from friends and family, and make sure to book with a TICO-registered travel agency so that compensation is available if a situation like this arises. Most importantly, don’t be scared off from using a travel agent.

“Travel agents work very hard to get to know the places they are going,” said Perehudoff.  “And they have specialties. You may get one that knows a lot about safaris so you are going to want to tap into that knowledge and they have a network of people they can tap into.”

TICO says if all goes as planned, Sinorama customers can expect money back in their pockets by February.

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