Travel question: Will our package holiday to Sri Lanka go ahead?

Q We are due to travel to Sri Lanka on a £2,500 holiday on 17 May. As you have reported, the British government has added Sri Lanka to its no-go list. We have contacted the holiday company which is insisting our holiday is going ahead, while our insurers say they will not cover us if we go. What can we do?

Name withheld

A I imagine you are in a very stressful situation: just 17 days after the murderous terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka, you don’t know whether your holiday due to begin in barely more than a week will be going ahead.

Assuming the company you are planning to travel with is a reputable one, and a member of the Association of British Travel Agents, it will not send British holidaymakers to a location where the UK Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel.

So why is the holiday company apparently dragging its heals and building up your stress levels? Because it still hopes to be able to proceed with the holiday you booked.

When the foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, announced the ban, he said: “We all hope the situation will return to normal very soon, and that the Sri Lankan tourism industry is able to get back on its feet following the terrorist attacks.”

It is, then, fair for travel firms to offer “rolling cancellations” – telling customers who are booked on imminent departures that they won’t be going, but asking everyone else to wait a little longer.

My strong view is that the trip on 17 May will not happen, and instead you will be invited to choose between a full refund or an alternative holiday (if you choose the latter, there is likely to be a price adjustment up or down, depending on the cost of the alternative).

For Sri Lanka bookings, the typical “horizon” seems to be two or three weeks. In theory, you could be informed as late as the day before. But I expect it will be about a week.

I do hope that you will be able to travel to this beautiful island, whose people will certainly need all the help they can get to rebuild the tourist industry. I fear, though, you may have to wait a while longer. Recent history suggests that the ban could last for months or years.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder