After a group of 35 Cape Town schoolboys, aged 13 to 18, were stranded in Lisbon for over a week earlier this month, travel agents have weighed in on the complexities of arranging school tours.
The group from the BT Football Academy in Cape Town flew to Spain for the tour arranged by BT Travel, however they were stuck in Portugal for more than a week after the company failed to book return flights, citing affordability concerns.
BT Travel had been a member of Cape Town Tourism since 2023 but it has since been suspended following the incident.
Four South African travel agents, with more than 100 years of combined experience in coordinating school and sport group tours, told Travel News that they had never encountered an instance where a group travelled internationally without return tickets.
More than logisticsMelisha Moodley from Travel Impact, who assisted in getting the teens back safely, said the biggest challenge when arranging school travel was getting the individuals personal documents together, especially for minors travelling without parents. She said it was important to gather information early in the process, especially as each childs travel profile would be unique with specific requirements.