KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) is calling on one of the world’s largest leisure, travel and tourism companies, Touristik Union International (TUI) Group to reimburse Caribbean hotels and resorts for services received.

CHTA, in a statement today, said last April, it appealed for a response from those tour operators that had failed to reimburse hotels for first quarter (Q1) stays by travellers who had made their payments to the tour operators well in advance of their travel.

“Most tour operators honoured their obligations, and we’ve been pleased to see that a number of those who had delayed reimbursements have settled since our appeal in April,” said Frank Comito, CHTA’s CEO and Director General.

“But millions of dollars in reimbursements remain obligated and are jeopardising the hoteliers’ survival and ability to meet obligations, like taxes and labour expenses, because of the holdout by TUI and several other tour operators.”

According to the CHTA statement, Comito has written to TUI, appealing to the company to settle its debts to regional hotels whose survival he said is under threat.

The CHTA CEO said that despite numerous requests to publicly identify tour operators that were withholding reimbursements, the association had refrained from doing so in the interest of long-standing, mutually beneficial relationships.

However, Comito charged that the failure to act expediently left CHTA with no choice but to shine further light on the matter. He advised that in addition to TUI, the Canada-based tour operator Sunwing has also been cited by Caribbean hoteliers as still withholding payments.

He further reported that on Friday he received a response from TUI, which, regrettably, provided no immediate redress for financially impacted Caribbean hotels.