Buying tours overseas

[Hol]

Are there any problems buying tours eg Globus, Trafalgar from a travel agency in another country. Tours costing $7016 in Australia are $5499 in us dollars from a US agency. Are there any pitfalls
Hol

 

[Major]

There are huge pitfalls. Losing all your money to scam artists and using your credit card on unsecured sites are real problems

Having said that, there are heaps of reputable TA's all over. Do your homework, check out the TA of your choice with other sites such as Trip Advisor etc. Ask AFF members for recommendations.

If you chose the right one there are $$$ to be saved.

 

[ftm]

There should be no problem if buying from a reputable US agency. But beware the forex fees and any other hidden extras that may not be included in the upfront price that may not make the price so attractive.

Have you asked an Australian Agent to price match? It might not be possible, but if you don't ask, you don't get!

 

[JohnK]

I went on a Cosmos tour of central Europe in 2007 and finally booked with a US online travel agency and saved a fair amount of money on what Australian travel agents were quoting even with the poor exchange rate at the time. No hassles and the service I received was fantastic.

I would not hesitiate to book with the US online travel agency again in the future.

 

[drmikki]

If you know what you want and don't need any TA advice etc, for discounts on the Aussie prices I have used Best Coach Tours Travel Agent - Online Coach Tours Search Engine in the past without problems. We got 10% off the recommended proce for a tour of Switzerland which made us happy!

Obviously if you want any advice or presenting of your options I'd use an Aussie TA, but if you just want the discount off standard tour prices...

 

[Travel Guru]

Have you asked an Australian Agent to price match? It might not be possible, but if you don't ask, you don't get!

Please don't for a second think that the difference in figures quoted by the OP are made up of margin the TA makes, it's most certainly isn't, the average margin on a coach tour is anywhere from 9-14%

From experience I've asked tour companies to match an OS price before without success, their attitude is that the US (or UK as it was at the time) agents aren't meant to sell to individuals outside of the US or UK, but that obviously a blind eye is being turned by someone somewhere along the way.

I have no issue with someone saving money when they can, but you need to realise that there are risks involved, mainly that there's no consumer protection for you and there's no provision for cover under the travel compensation fund.
You may also find (and I'm only speculating on this last point) that insurance companies who provide coverage for travel provider insolvency may not cover it if your US based TA of choice either goes belly up or worse still runs off with your money.

When you book with an AU based TA, the majority of them operate audited trust accounts, so you know your money is safe and that if anything goes wrong you have the TCF to claim under.


Not trying to put you off, just educating on a couple of aspects of booking abroad that are often overlooked in the hunt for a bargain.


TG