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Kiwi holidaymakers struggling to get home from Italy because of coronavirus travel restrictions

More than 30 New Zealanders on a tour that began in Rome and was cancelled after one day are accusing the tour provider of leaving them stranded.

Travel restrictions to prevent the spread of coronavirus have left a number of Kiwi holidaymakers struggling to find a way home.

More than 30 New Zealanders are on a tour that began in Rome but was cancelled after one day. The group are accusing the tour provider of leaving them stranded.

The tour, booked through Australian company TripADeal, went ahead on March 7 despite the spike in Covid-19 cases in Italy - and those booked in for the trip raising concerns,

Bevan Whale, from the Rangitikei district, is on the trip with his wife Tania and some friends.

“The reality is, every one of us on this tour, the ones that I’ve spoken to, they all rung TripADeal to go what are you doing, we don’t want to go on that, you should cancel it. and every one of us got the same response, well no, we'll play it by ear,” he told 1 NEWS.

“Our insurance company basically they will only cover us if the provider cancels the trip.

“This trip is in excess of $13,000, $14,000, many of us that are here now have come because they really felt they had no choice to because they were going to lose too much.”

Mr Whale said the first day of the tour trip went as planned, but it was called off after that, when the country was locked down.

He said at that point TripADeal was less than forthcoming with advice.

It did attempt to organise flights out for the group, but with a planned stopover in Melbourne, the group had to stay in Rome.

Any non-Australians coming from Italy, even those just in transit, have been blocked since Wednesday.

TripADeal then emailed customers, saying the situation was beyond its control.

The company’s co-founder Richard Johnston admitted to 1 NEWS there was a poor choice of language in the email.

He said TripADeal won’t cover the cost of return flights for the Kiwis stuck in Rome, as it’s a matter for travel insurance.

Mr Johnston said staff are by no means abandoning the group, and are helping to find flights.

He says staff have been in touch with over half the group personally.

The Whale family have booked their own flights, but they’re calling on TripADeal to give them a refund for the trip.

“We want TripADeal to say, hey look, this hasn’t worked out, we thought we could make the trip happen, we've got that wrong,” he said.

Mr Johnston told 1 NEWS that if they get any refunds from those contracted to run the tour on the ground, they will be passed on to customers.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry says there are 210 New Zealanders in Italy right now, and the embassy in Rome is providing assistance to a number of them.

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