Ontario woman out $1,800 for airfare after tour group cancels over poor sales

When you travel you can book guided tours, but what happens if a company cancels your tour at the last minute? Pat Foran investigates.

An Ontario couple planned a holiday trip to Switzerland over a year ago and decided to go with a tour group in May. Instead, a month before the trip they were told the tour was cancelled due to “poor sales,” leaving them with airline tickets they no longer needed.

“It was devastating for me” Janet Sumali, of Mississauga, told CTV News.

Sumali was excited to fulfill her life long dream by travelling to Switzerland. She and her husband booked a guided tour over a year ago that was set to depart in late May.

“I had already bought my euros and Swiss franc for the trip” said Sumali, who added “believe it or not, I had already packed my clothes. That’s how excited I was.”

One month before the trip, they received a notice from the travel group company stating the tour was cancelled due to lack of interest.

“We got a notification that the land tour was cancelled because there was not enough sales,” Sumali said.

The travel group said it would refund the cost of the tour, however, Sumali said she also purchased two round-trip tickets to Paris separately for $1,800. She said she felt she deserved a refund for those as well even though those tickets were not purchased through the tour company.

“I can understand if cancellations is because of natural disasters or something of that sort, but not because there are not enough sales. I’ve never heard of that before,” Sumali said.

Sumali booked with the tour company ‘TripToGo.’ When CTV News reached out to the company on Sumali’s behalf, a spokesperson said in a statement, “We understand Ms. Sumali’s disappointment, as a cancelled vacation is understandably frustrating.”

“The tour in question was cancelled by the local operator in Europe due to insufficient participation levels required to operate the program. As soon as we were notified, we informed the travelers and explained the reason for the cancellation.”

“While uncommon, cancellations due to insufficient participation can occur within the travel industry when minimum operating requirements are not met.”

The tour company said that affected travelers are offered either a full refund for the land tour package, or a free rescheduled departure date. On May 1, 2026, these options were shared “directly with the travelers” according to the spokesperson.

“Ms. Sumali’s airfare was purchased independently through Expedia after she chose to remove flights from her TripToGo booking. These flights were not booked, managed, or controlled by TripToGo and remained valid after the tour was cancelled.”

TripTOGo said the decision to purchase separate, non-refundable airfare was made independently from the purchasing of the tour.

“While we understand the concern regarding airfare costs, the flights were not affected by the cancellation and remained available for use.”

According to the Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO), if you book a package deal with a flight included with the tour, then you should get a refund.

However, if you choose to book a flight separately from a tour, you usually won’t get your money back. It’s all about the terms and conditions.

“It’s different if it’s a packaged tour or individually purchased,” said CEO and president of TICO, Richard Smart, who also added “sometimes pricing can look very good but it’s also about cancellation fees and re-booking fees.”

As for Sumali, she told CTV News she didn’t feel comfortable flying to Europe without a planned itinerary so, both she and her husband decided to stay home and were not refunded for the $1,800 tickets.

Sumali also hopes that by sharing her story, Canadians planning to travel abroad are careful with booking through third-party platforms. Any changes or cancellations made through the platforms which were not included in a bundle or tour and flight package, could affect the rest of the planned trip.

“It’s so devastating. It’s very upsetting,” Sumali said and added “it’s important to know that this can happen due to poor sales.”

With files from Farah Chandani