Although cruise lines have dodged the
bullet for another 18 months, packagers of vacations to Bermuda,
the Caribbean and Mexico are increasingly concerned about the
approaching Jan. 8 deadline requiring all air travelers to have
passports to travel to and from those destinations.
To counter the
possible negative effects of the policy on business, Cheapcaribbean.com is offering to reimburse customers
for the cost of fees for a new passport on all bookings through the
end of 2006 for each person named in a booking.
To recover the
rebate money, customers will have to download a rebate form, fill
it out and mail it in with the original receipts for their
passports within 30 days of making their reservations. They'll
receive e-mail confirmations of receipt of the documents, and 30
days after completing their trips a rebate will be
issued.
"As tour operators
and providers of vacations, we have to do everything we can to
encourage people to go to the Caribbean," said Greg Thorne,
president of Inter-Island Tours, provider of the package content
for CheapCaribbean.com. "Passports are going to be a way of life
and people will adapt. We've adapted by virtually paying for
people's passports."
For more
information, visit www.CheapCaribbean.com or call (800) 915-2322.
CheapCaribbean pays travel agents 15% commission for
bookings.
To
contact the reporter who wrote this article, send e-mail to David
Cogswell at [email protected].
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