The FCTG has removed all Black Friday deals to focus on assisting customers following South Africa being re-added onto the UK Red List – domino effect expected
JOHANNESBURG, 26 NOVEMBER 2021 –The Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) announced today it has made the decision to cancel their Black Friday sale to, as a first priority, assist those customers who are affected by the UK government announcement that South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and Zimbabwe will move back onto the country’s dreaded red list from midday today.
“Our number one priority is to assist our customers at this time,” says Andrew Stark, Flight Centre Travel Group MD. ”To wake up to this news and be in this position again is simply devastating. We envisage there will be a domino effect with other countries following suit as we have seen before. We cannot emphasise enough how important it is for our country to achieve an 80% plus vaccination rate so that we can proactively put an end to these situations unfolding.”
“We are aware many of our customers were looking forward to Black Friday shopping but believe the responsible thing to do given the current uncertainties is to sadly cancel our Black Friday sale so that our Experts can focus all their energy on assisting our customers at this time.
“We are in constant contact with our suppliers and will communicate on our channels as news unfolds.”
The UK announced that there will be a temporary ban on all direct commercial and private flights from these countries until 04h00 Sunday 28 November while the UK government reassesses the newly discovered COVID variant, B1.1.529. From 04h00 on Sunday, travellers from South Africa will need to book a quarantine hotel package, including 2 COVID-19 tests, before they arrive in England.