Travel agents have duty to tell of country warnings, says Goff

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Phil Goff has issued stern advice to travel agents who choose not to inform clients about Government warnings before travelling overseas.

He says if someone is killed or injured overseas and the travel agent who organised the trip is found not to have issued a warning relating to that country the agent could be found to be negligent in their duties.

Mr Goff said he read a Herald article about agents' attitudes to Government warnings yesterday. It disturbed him that some agents chose not to let clients know all information about a country in an apparent attempt to make a sale.

He said it was ironic that one travel agent had compared warnings against terror targets to warnings about catching malaria in Africa.

"Do they warn people of the risk of malaria? Of course they advise their clients of that fact," Mr Goff said.

Once an agent had warned a prospective client of all the facts it was then up to the client to decide whether to go to an affected country, Mr Goff said. "I have a very clear view that travel agencies have a moral obligation to draw attention to clients so that they themselves can make an informed decision by weighing up the risks involved and what they mean to them."

If a New Zealander was killed or injured it was up to the courts to decide whether agents might have been partly to blame, Mr Goff said.

However, "in the court of public opinion" they would almost certainly be found negligent had they not issued appropriate Government warnings.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs and Trade officials have returned to their posts in Jakarta after spending the first part of the week on stand-by to help with any countrymen caught up in the blasts that rocked Bali on Sunday.

New Zealand's official contribution after the terrorist suicide bombings has been reduced to two police officers temporarily based at the island resort.