Tasmanian Corona Virus Covid 19 Information
Cancellation, refund, isolation and quarantine options

The Coronavirus emergency has lead to many travel plans being thrown into uncertainty or disarray by Government imposed travel restrictions. Many travellers have prepaid for services that they now are not allowed to access. This creates many questions such as, "can I get a refund if I cant travel as planned?" or "does the accommodation property that I booked have to refund me if I can't get there?"
From 19 March 2020, the Tasmanian Government requires anyone coming into Tasmania to quarantine for 14 days. This has effectively stopped all inbound visitors. As a tourism industry we've faced disruptions before: September 11, the GFC, airline groundings, bushfires and floods, but nothing that has effectively stopped inbound visitors to Tasmania. The state's priority right now is public health, and we support our health authorities and all levels of government in the steps they are taking to contain the virus spread.

Refunds or changes due to travel restrictions

Tasmanian tourist accommodation is open and ready to honour your existing booking plus accept new bookings. Whether you can get to the accommodation location is another matter. While guests have lost their holiday savings, small tourism operators have lost their cash reserves, lost all their income during April, May and June and will have severely reduced income the foreseeable future. Operators have limited, or in some cases, zero capacity to refund or even offer vouchers for future use.
  • If you have booked a full price, flexible, rate, operators will honour this, refunding in line with their cancellation policy
  • If you have booked a discounted, no refunds, no changes rate, operators will honour this also. ie they will make the service that you have booked for the day you booked, available to you.
  • Some operators will, as a generous gesture of good will, offer vouchers for full or part value, even though they have no obligation to do so.

What ACCC says about refunds

ACCC is Australia's peak consumer protection body. Its purpose is to protect consumers from unscrupulous businesses. It also protects businesses against invalid customer claims.

During the Covid19 emergency, many travel plans have been thrown into chaos. Whilst travellers have lost their holiday savings (often amounting to several thousand dollars), tourism businesses have lost their business savings their business income but still have standing outgoings (often totalling tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars).

ACCC provides the following definitive information about customer entitlements when their travel plans are stymied by Government restrictions. The following is extracted from the ACCC Corona Virus special guidelines.

​My flight, cruise or tour service has been cancelled. Am I entitled to compensation for related expenses booked separately, such as accommodation?

  • You should first approach the provider of the related service to see if they are prepared to offer a refund, replacement service or voucher.
  • You should also check whether you are covered under any travel insurance policy.
  • You may be entitled to compensation for these expenses under the Australian Consumer Law but this will depend on the specific circumstances.
  • This is unlikely to be the case where the travel is cancelled due to government restrictions.
In summary, if you cannot access your booked accommodation or other service, because Government prohibits you from travelling or prohibits the business from operating, you are not entitled to a refund.

What Visa says about credit card chargebacks

Visa has a process to deal with businesses who charge a customer card but does not deliver the booked service. Visa makes it clear that a Government restriction that prevents the customer accessing a service is NOT a valid reason for a chargeback.
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" Visa will implement a COVID-19 Dispute Monitoring Program beginning April 1 to help maintain the integrity of the dispute process by reducing invalid disputes initiated into the system. The program will monitor daily dispute volumes with a focus on consumer-related disputes, and will flag any practices that may be inconsistent with current Visa dispute rules. If necessary, Visa will require issuers to reverse invalid disputes. "

​Question 1: The cardholder purchased goods/services and the merchant decides to cancel the good or
service. For example, an airline cancels a flight due to low demand. Does an issuer have dispute rights?
​

Answer: Yes, there is a dispute right when goods/services are not provided for any reason, including bankruptcy
or other circumstances.
The EXCEPTION is cancellations due to government prohibition as government regulation and/or law supersedes Visa rules on dispute rights.

​Question 2: The cardholder purchased goods/services and the merchant cancels the good or service due to
a government prohibition. For example, an airline cancels a flight because the government closed the
border ... Does an issuer have disputes rights?

Answer: No, if the merchant has not provided the service due to a government-imposed prohibition, the
cardholder does not have a dispute right. Government regulation and/or law supersedes Visa rules on dispute
rights. The cardholder should work directly with the merchant to resolve.
In summary, you are not entitled to have your credit card payment reversed, because Government prohibits you from travelling or prohibits the business from operating. You are not entitled to a chargeback.