JUNE 2009

Tourists who got sick are compensated

Bahia Principe San Juan Hotel

LONDON.-Some 500 British tourists won a 2.5 million pound (US $3,789,250) compensation for having suffered from food poisoning while staying at the Bahia Principe San Juan Hotel in Rio San Juan, Dominican Republic.

The report is carried in the Guardian newspaper, in last 18 June’s edition.

The arrangement, arrived at with two Great Britain tour operators, is among the largest ever granted in cases of vacationers, and is a warning for other with the problem that affected more than a thousand travelers, of which several dozen were hospitalized.

The problems with the Bahia Principe San Juan, an all-inclusive resort, lasted from January to August, said lawyer Irwin Mitchell, who alleged that the tour operators showed a flagrant disregard for the health of their clients, continuing to send passengers to that destination in spite of the cases of illnesses, associated generally with food or water contamination.

These sicknesses included salmonella, shigela, giardia and E-coli.

The firm, up until now, and arrived at agreements with 514 of those affected including 12 couples whose honeymoon was ruined, with Thomas Cook and its subsidiary, My Travel Other cases with these businesses are still under negotiation.

There are also 419 cases pending for people that traveled to the Bahia Principe with First Choice.

Diario Libre, 23.06.09