Hundreds of Australians are pursuing refunds after a Melbourne-based tour operator disrupted departures across multiple destinations, drawing regulatory attention and renewing industry debate about accreditation and coverage gaps. According to ABC’s report, customers of AVG Travels began gathering outside the company’s St Kilda office in recent days, seeking answers after bookings were altered or scrapped with little notice. The disruptions affected tours to China, Sri Lanka, and South America, with some travellers learning of cancellations only after they had already left Australia. The episode illustrates the sequence of remedies available to travellers when a tour operator fails to deliver – and where travel insurance products typically enter the picture.
Canberra resident Anthony Sheely departed Australia expecting a confirmed 11-day itinerary in Beijing, with a stopover in Hong Kong. He was notified of the cancellation only after arriving in Hong Kong. A replacement itinerary was arranged but subsequently collapsed as well. “It’s extremely disappointing to be told I was going on another tour, and for it to be cancelled too. I would much rather they have cancelled while I was in Australia, and I could have made my own travel arrangements,” Sheely said, as reported by ABC.
Anne Miller, a Geelong resident, had booked a 30-day group tour through South America and the Galápagos Islands to mark her 70th birthday, paying $17,000 for a package that included stops at Machu Picchu, Buenos Aires, and Rio de Janeiro. She said she sought written confirmation of accommodation, meeting points, and group arrangements in the weeks before her May 9 departure date and received the final itinerary in the early hours of the morning she was scheduled to fly. She was also informed she would be travelling alone on the Galápagos leg of the tour – a significant departure from the group arrangement she had purchased. “I’m a single lady travelling who doesn’t speak Spanish or Portuguese. The beauty of a small group tour, whether it’s four or 20, is you'll always match up with some people, and that’s what I paid for,” Miller told ABC. She said she withdrew from the tour on safety grounds and was pursuing a refund.
Melbourne travellers Janine Navaud and Elizabeth Jennings, who had booked an 11-day China tour scheduled to depart on a Monday, said the company did not provide flight details or an itinerary in the days before departure. “We couldn’t get any information. They said they were going to call me back; they never did. On Thursday they told us the trip was cancelled, and by Friday they were pushing people into accepting credit or date changes. Now they’re telling me I have to wait 50 to 60 business days to get my full refund. That’s not acceptable,” Navaud said. Jennings received a full refund following media coverage of the cancellations. “I was stressed out and I don’t stress easily, but I wasn’t getting any information; I didn’t know what was going on,” Jennings said. AVG Travels issued a written statement attributing the disruptions to broader industry conditions. “Industry-wide operational pressures have necessitated some itinerary adjustments. Our focus is on resolving all pending matters swiftly and restoring the high standard of service our customers expect,” the company said, as reported by ABC.
The Australian Travel Industry Association (ATIA) noted the company had been removed from its accreditation scheme more than six years prior for failing to meet financial and ethical standards. ATIA chief executive Dean Long pointed to the accreditation process as a mechanism for consumer protection. “Last year we rejected over 22% of people that wanted to join this scheme. It’s a reminder that when you’re handing over your hard-earned money that you need to check the accreditation status and give yourself that extra peace of mind in knowing that a business is following the best practices and also meeting the highest financial criteria,” Long said, as reported by ABC.
ABC said the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) declined to confirm whether it had received complaints about AVG Travels or initiated any investigation, consistent with its standard practice. A spokesman nonetheless outlined the applicable legal framework. “Consumers have rights under the Australian Consumer Law if a travel service is delayed or cancelled. If a business sells a travel service that doesn’t meet one of the ACL consumer guarantees, a consumer is entitled to a solution. This may include a replacement or refund,” the spokesman said. Under the Australian Consumer Law, those guarantees extend to tour bookings regardless of whether the purchase was made directly with an operator, through a travel agent, or via a third-party platform. Where a booking passes through an intermediary, both the intermediary’s and the primary provider’s terms and conditions apply, and the intermediary is generally only required to pass on whatever remedy the primary provider makes available.
A distinction in the ACL framework carries weight for policy interpretation: operators are not obligated to provide refunds under consumer guarantees when a cancellation stems from the conduct of a third party beyond the operator’s control. This mirrors the force majeure provisions found in many travel insurance products and can determine whether a claim falls to the insurer or remains a matter between the traveller and the operator. Where direct refund avenues – including ACL claims, supplier negotiation, and credit card chargebacks – are unavailable or unresolved, travel insurance products with supplier insolvency or cancellation cover may be triggered. The AVG Travels situation, in which an accredited-lapsed operator collected payments for future tours while facing operational difficulties, is consistent with the supplier default scenarios many such policies are designed to address.
