Nordic, market leader in Belgium for travel to Scandinavia, will sue the Belgian State. The reason for this summons is the succession of conflicting travel advice to Sweden. In recent weeks, travel advice to Sweden changed from code green, to code red, to code orange in just a few days. Manager Maarten Raes talks about an incomprehensible sequence and arbitrariness. Because the ambiguity of the Belgian government has a particularly large financial impact on Nordic the tour operator decided to recover the damage from the Belgian State.
confusion trumps
On 3 June, the Security Council decided that the Belgian borders would reopen from 15 June for travel within the European Union, including to Sweden. In early July, for the first time, there was talk of a compulsory or non-compulsory self-quarantine upon return from Sweden. In two days the advice changed from “mandatory quarantine” to “no quarantine”.
On July 8, the system of color codes was introduced for various destinations in Europe. Sweden was green on July 10. On July 12, the color code was changed and Sweden got the code red. Maarten Raes: "We were very surprised when we noticed that the color code for Sweden was suddenly red." After all, Nordic had just informed their customers that their journey could continue.
"With immediate effect, a total travel ban was imposed for the whole of Sweden, even for Swedish Lapland where an average of 1 person per square kilometer lives," said Maarten Raes.
cancel and repatriate
Based on that code, Nordic felt compelled to cancel all trips to Sweden and repatriate the few hundred customers who were there at the time. The travel advice was adjusted again three days after Sweden received the code red. This time to code orange, the color of which the impact is still not really clear. Maarten Raes: "All repatriations and cancellations turned out to be for nothing, with all the associated costs"
The contradictory travel advice has caused great uncertainty for Nordic, their customers, and their suppliers. Raes: "The financial impact is particularly great, which is why we sue the Belgian state".
Nordic clearly states that the safety and health of its customers are always central. They do not dispute the government's travel advice, but emphasize the arbitrariness and ambiguity of the travel advice. The successive contradictory decisions make the situation unworkable for the travel organization and its customers.
