Your contract is with First World Tours and Travel Limited
The following Terms shall have the meanings set out below when used in these Booking Conditions:
| Booking conditions definitions | |
| we, Our, UsClient, you, your | ‘We ‘, Our’, ‘Us,’means First World Tours and Travel Limited.‘Client’, ‘you’, ‘Your’, means any person travelling or intending to travel on a tour operated by the Company including any person who is added or substituted after booking. |
|  holiday | ‘Holiday’, means the Holiday booked by you or any person on your behalf. |
| Travel Agent | ‘Travel Agent’ means any Agent through whom your booking with First World Tours and Travel is made. |
|  Force Majeure | ‘Force Majeure’  means any circumstances which are unusual and/or unforeseeable which are beyond the control of First World Tours, the consequence of which could not have been avoided even if all due care had been exercised, including (but not limited to) war or threat of war; riot; civil strife; hostilities; political unrest; government action; industrial dispute; natural or other disaster; nuclear incident; terrorist activity; weather conditions; closure of airports; fire; flood; drought; re-scheduling or cancellation of flights or alteration of the airline or aircraft type by an airline and technical problems with transportation and all similar events outside our control. |
|  Major Change | ‘Major Change’includes the following when made before departure:
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|  Package | ‘Package’means a package as defined in the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992.These conditions apply to all Holidays and govern your relationship with First World Tours and Travel Ltd. Please read them carefully before making a booking.First World Tours and Travel Ltd accepts bookings subject to the following conditions. Except where expressly stated, these conditions only apply to tour arrangements booked by the client with the Company and which the Company agrees to make, provide or perform (as applicable) as part of their contract with the client. All references in these conditions to “tourâ€, “bookingâ€, “contract†or “arrangements†mean such tour arrangements unless otherwise stated. Please note, the information appearing on our website form part or your entire contract with the Company. |
1.    Your holiday contract
Whether you book alone or as a group, the lead name on the booking guarantees that he or she has the authority to accept and does accept on behalf of the party the terms of these booking conditions. After we receive your booking and all appropriate payments, if the arrangements you wish to book are available, we will issue a confirmation invoice. A binding agreement will come into existence between us when we dispatch this invoice to the lead name or your Travel Agent. . We both agree that English law (and no other) will apply to your contract and to any dispute, claim or other matter of any description which arises between us (except as set out below). We both also agree that any dispute, claim or other matter of any description (and whether or not involving any personal injury) which arises between us must be dealt with by the Courts of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Island only. No employee of the Company other than a director has authority to vary or omit any of these terms. No promise of a discount or refund will be binding on us unless confirmed by us in writing.
It essential to check the details on your invoice when you get it, or if booking late at the time of booking, that all the details are exactly as you requested. In the event of any discrepancy, please contact us immediately as it may not be possible to make changes later.
2.    Booking and paying for your holiday
To secure a booking, the Company or their authorised travel agent must receive payment of the minimum deposit of 60% of the total tour price, per person, (If booking within 8 weeks of departure full payment will be required by credit card, debit card or bank transfer.) The balance of the cost of your arrangements (including any surcharge where applicable) is due not less than 8 weeks prior to departure. If we do not receive this balance in full and on time, we reserve the right to treat your booking as cancelled by you in which case the cancellation charges set out in clause 11 will become payable.
On occasions, full payment for a service such as your flights may be required at the time of booking. The applicable deposit will be confirmed at the time of booking. All clients (including anyone who is added or substituted at a later date), whether booking in person, by telephone, via our website, by e-mail or facsimile or by any other means, will be deemed to have agreed to the following four conditions:
A booking is accepted and becomes definite only from the date when the Company issues a confirmation invoice to the client who makes the booking or their authorised travel agent. It is at this point that a contract between the Company and the client comes into existence. For bookings made via our website, any acknowledgement of your booking request we send to you in the meantime is not a confirmation of your booking. Before your booking is confirmed and a contract comes into force, the Company reserves the right to increase or decrease holiday prices.
We accept payment by cheque, credit card and debit card direct payments to First World Tours by credit card will incur a charge of 2.5% of the value of the transaction (this charge is correct at time of print and we reserve the right to increase/decrease this charge and you will be advised at the time of booking).
 3.    The prices you pay
The information and prices shown on this website may have changed by the time you come to book your arrangements. Although we make every effort to ensure the accuracy of the website information and prices at the time of loading, regrettably errors do occasionally occur. You must therefore ensure you check the price and all other details of your chosen arrangements with us at the time of booking.
We reserve the right to increase the price of your holiday after you have booked but not later than 30 days before the departure date stipulated and will send an amendment invoice reflecting any changes made. After a confirmation invoice has been sent to you, any increase to your holiday price will be as the result of changes in our costs of supplying your holiday resulting from transportation charges, fuel, airport charges, scheduled air fares and other transport charges which form part of our contract with transport provider, currency fluctuations and government action. An administration charge and any other relevant travel agents commission is included within these amounts.
If the increase would be 2% or less of the holiday price shown on your Confirmation Invoice (excluding insurance premiums and any amendment charges), we will absorb the changes in our costs described above and will only pass on any increase above that level. If any change in our costs would cause a reduction in your holiday price, we will not make refunds of amounts less than 2% of your holiday price (calculated as above), but we will refund in full amounts exceeding such 2%, after deducting an administration charge of £1. If the increase is more than 10% of the holiday price (calculated as above), then: –
1. You may cancel your holiday booking within 14 days of the Amendment Invoice date and receive a refund of all monies paid to us except any amendment charges; we will only consider an appropriate refund of insurance premium paid if you can show us that you are unable to transfer or reuse your policy; and
2. The increase will be considered a Major Change as described in section 6 below and, unless you choose to cancel under paragraph 1 above, you will be entitled to the alternatives set out in section 6 for those circumstances, but in either case you will receive compensation in accordance with section 6. The price quoted on the last Amendment Invoice issued is guaranteed, unless you change your holiday booking. Any increases in our costs which occur after the last Amendment Invoice has been sent will be borne by us. Should you instruct your credit/debit card company to “charge back†any payment(s) properly due from you in respect of your booking, we will charge you a fee of £10 per incident and associated costs. We further reserve the right to cancel your booking and/or take legal action against you for all outstanding payment(s).
4.    Passports, visas, health requirements and travel documents
We can only advise of the requirements for British and Irish citizens holding a full British and Irish passport endorsed in any way and all other passport holders, requirements should be checked with the relevant embassy. You should ensure that you have a valid ten year passport and, as many countries require expiry dates on passports to be a considerable length of time after the return from holiday, we would recommend that your passport is valid for 6 months after return to the UK. All children are required to travel on their own passports. Requirements may change and you must check the up to date position in good time before departure. A full British passport presently takes approximately 2 to 6 weeks to obtain. If you or any member of your party is 16 or over and haven’t yet got a passport, you should apply for one at least 6 weeks before your holiday. The UK Passport Service has to confirm your identity before issuing your first passport and will ask you to attend an interview in order to do this.
 It is your responsibility to ensure you are in possession of all necessary travel and health documents before departure. All costs incurred in obtaining such documentation must be paid by you. We regret we cannot accept any liability if you are refused entry onto any transport or into any country due to failure on your part to carry all required documentation. If failure to have any necessary travel or other documents results in fines, surcharges or other financial penalty or expenses being imposed on or incurred by us, you will be responsible for reimbursing us accordingly. In the event we are asked to reissue tickets that have been lost, destroyed or stolen and we agree to do so, any charges incurred as a result of this will be payable by you.
5.    Insurance
Travel Insurance is mandatory for all clients whilst on a tour organised by the Company. Clients together with their personal property including baggage are at all times solely at their own risk. Clients are wholly responsible for arranging their own insurance. Clients are responsible for ensuring that they have personal travel insurance with protection for the full duration of the tour in respect of at least medical expenses, injury, death, repatriation, cancellation and curtailment, with adequate and appropriate cover. Clients should ensure that there are no exclusion clauses limiting or excluding protection for the type of activities included in their tour. Clients should satisfy themselves that all travel insurance purchased meets their particular requirements and should arrange supplementary insurance if need be.
6. Â If We Change or cancel Your Booking
We hope that we will not have to make any change to your holiday but, because our holidays are planned many months in advance, we sometimes do need to make changes. We reserve the right to do this at any time. We will let you or your travel agent know about any important changes when you book. If you have already booked, we will let you know as soon as we can, if there is time before your departure. Flight timings shown by us are for guidance only and may change. Where we are unable to provide a seat option that you have paid for we will refund the amount you have paid. Your Confirmation Invoice will show the latest planned timings. Your actual flight timings will be shown on your ticket (including any e-ticket itinerary), which you should check carefully as soon as you receive it.
Major Changes To Your Holiday
Sometimes, we may have to make major changes to the flight or accommodation making up your holiday with us. If we have to make a Major Change or cancel, we will tell you as soon as possible and if there is time to do so before departure, we will offer you the choice of the following options:
- (for Major Changes) accepting the changed arrangements or
- Purchasing alternative arrangements from us, of a similar standard to those originally booked if available (if the chosen alternative is less expensive than your original one, we will refund the difference but if it is more expensive, we will ask you to pay the difference) or
- Cancelling or accepting the cancellation in which case you will receive a full and quick refund of all monies you have paid to us.
However, we will not cancel your confirmed booking 12 weeks or less before departure except for reasons of Force Majeure (as explained below) or failure by you to make full payment on time.
Due to the unpredictability of Force Majeure events we shall not be liable for any changes either before departure or during the holiday, which in our opinion are necessary to protect your safety. In this event, we will offer you suitable alternative arrangements, or, if you do not travel, return the monies you have paid us but we will not pay you compensation.
In all cases, except where the Major Change arises due to reasons of Force Majeure and subject to the exceptions below, we will pay you the following compensation as detailed below:
| Compensation These scales are based on how many days before your booked holiday, departure date, we notify you of a major change. | |
| These scales are based on how many days before your booked holiday, departure date, we notify you of a major change. | |
| Period before departure when a major change is notified | Compensation payable per adult (for children see below) |
| More than 84 days | £0.00 |
| 29-84 days | £25.00 |
| 15-28 days | £35.00 |
| 7-14 days | £40.00 |
| Less than 7 days | £50.00 |
Please note that the above payments are per full fare-paying passenger (excluding infants). For children invoiced at reduced rates, compensation will be paid on a pro-rata basis of the adult rate.
We will not pay you compensation and the above options will not be available if we make a minor change or cancel as a result of your failure to make full payment on time. We regret we cannot pay any expenses, costs or losses incurred by you as a result of any change or cancellation.
We will not pay you compensation where we make a Major Change or cancel more than 12 weeks before departure or in the event of Force Majeure.
Very rarely, we may be forced by Force Majeure to change or terminate your arrangements after departure. If this situation does occur, we regret we will be unable to make any refunds (unless we obtain any from our suppliers), pay you compensation or meet any costs or expenses you incur as a result.
 7.  If you have a complaint
We will endeavor to sort out any complaints you may have. But if you have a complaint about any of your tour arrangements, you must tell both the relevant supplier and the Company’s representative at the time. It is only if the Company and the relevant supplier know about problems, that there will be the opportunity to put things right. Most problems or complaints can be resolved while you are away, however if you remain unhappy, please call us on  0203587709, or email  us at  [email protected] or write to Client Services  Department at First World Tours and Travel Ltd, Three Bridges, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 1LZ within 28 days of your return to the UK giving your booking reference and full details of your complaint and all other relevant information. If we fail to agree, you may call upon the Independent Dispute Settlement Service (details on request).
8. Financial Protection
The Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 require us to provide security for the monies that you pay for the package holidays booked from us and for your repatriation in the event of our insolvency. We are currently processing ATOL (details available on request).
9. Our responsibility for your holiday
We will arrange for you to receive the services that make up the holiday that you choose and that we confirm. These services will be provided either directly by us or through independent suppliers contracted by us. We are responsible for making sure that each part of the holiday you book with us is provided to a reasonable standard and as was advertised by us (or as changed and accepted by you). If any part of your holiday is not provided as described, we will pay you compensation, if appropriate, unless this is due to reasons beyond our control.
We have taken all reasonable care to make sure that all the services which make up your holiday advertised by us are provided by efficient and reputable businesses. These businesses should follow local standards. However, overseas safety standards are generally lower than in the UK, for example few hotels yet meet EC fire safety recommendations even their star ratings may not be necessarily the same as the rating in Europe.
10. Changes or additions to your holiday
If you want to change any part of your holiday arrangements after the invoice has been issued, we will do our best to make the change, but it may not be possible. Any request for changes must be made in writing by the person who made the original booking, or his or her travel agent. If it is possible to make the change, it will be subject to an administration charge of £50 per booking, and payment of any further costs incurred as a result of the change. If we agree that you may change your booking to a holiday of lower value, and then you cancel that holiday, we reserve the right to levy cancellation charges on the value of the original booking. Scheduled airlines normally regard name changes as a cancellation and rebooking, and any alteration may incur a 100% cancellation charge in respect of the air fare. Please note that save for the transfer of a booking (see below), or the addition of any offers made by First World Tours in the brochure which were not requested at the time of booking, it will not be possible to make changes within 28 days of your scheduled departure date.
11. If You Cancel Your Holiday
You, or any member of your party, may cancel your travel arrangements at any time. Written notification by mail, fax or email from the lead name on the booking or your Travel Agent on your behalf, must be received at our offices. Since we incur costs in cancelling your travel arrangements, you will have to pay the applicable cancellation shown in the table below.
Note: if the reason for your cancellation is covered under the terms of your insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim these charges from your insurance company.
| Holiday cancellation charges | |
| Period before departure within which notice of cancellation is receive by us in writing | % of total booking price* |
| 60 days or more | Loss of Deposit |
| 59-42 days | 50% |
| 41-28 days | 60% |
| 27-15 days | 90% |
| 14 days or less | 100% |
| *Where the standard deposit is increased to secure specific facilities or extras, which are non-refundable in whole or part, then the scale of cancellation charges will be based on the % of the cost of all other arrangements, or loss of deposit, as applicable, and the non-refundable charges will be added to that cancellation charge to give the total charge. | |
Our cancellation charges are a percentage of the total holiday cost, not including your insurance premium which is non-refundable. These charges are based on how many days before your departure we receive your cancellation notice and not when your correspondence was sent to us. Please note that any amendment charges are non-refundable. For insurance premiums you should refer to your insurance providers cancellation policy.
Please note that, in the case of cancellation after receipt of documents, no refund will be given unless unused tickets are returned to us.
Please note, if only some members of your party cancel, in addition to incurring the applicable cancellation charges, we will recalculate the holiday cost for the remaining travelers. You may have to pay the extra room charges such as single room supplements.
In cases where cancellation charges made by our suppliers are higher than the cost of the deposit, we may pass the charge on to you. Please ask for full details and we will notify you of the specific charges applicable to your booking.
Note: Certain arrangements may not be cancelled after they have been confirmed and any cancellation could incur a cancellation charge of up to 100% of that part of the arrangements.
12 Our Commitment To You For Your Holiday Arrangements
Bookings are accepted on the understanding that clients appreciate and accept the possible risks inherent in adventure travel and that they undertake the tours, treks or expeditions featured in our programme at their own volition.
(a) We promise to make sure that the tour arrangements we have agreed to make, perform or provide, as applicable, as part of our contract with you are made, performed or provided with reasonable skill and care. This means that, subject to these conditions and the other information which forms part of your contract with us, we will accept responsibility if, for example, you suffer death or personal injury or your contracted tour arrangements are not provided as promised or prove deficient as a result of the failure of ourselves, our employees, agents or suppliers to use reasonable skill and care in making, performing or providing, as applicable, your contracted tour arrangements. Please note, it is your responsibility to show that reasonable skill and care has not been used if you wish to make a claim against us. In addition, we will only be responsible for what our employees, agents and suppliers do or do not do if they were at the time acting within the course of their employment (for employees) or carrying out work we had asked them to do (for agents and suppliers).
(b) We will not be responsible for any injury, illness, death, loss (including loss possessions and loss of enjoyment), damage, expense, cost or other sum or claim of any description whatsoever which results from any of the following: the act(s) and/or omission(s) of the client(s) affected or any member(s) of their party or the act(s) and/or omission(s) of a third party not connected with the provision of your tour and which were unforeseeable or unavoidable or ‘force majeure’ as defined in clause 13 above
(c) Please note, we cannot accept responsibility for any services which do not form part of our contract. This includes, for example, any additional services or facilities which any supplier agrees to provide for you where the services or facilities are not advertised by us and we have not agreed to arrange them as part of our contract. Any optional excursions or activities booked during your holiday do not form part of our contract as these are all arranged for you directly by the suppliers concerned – please see clause 15 Optional excursions and activities below. In addition, regardless of any wording used by us on our website, in any advertising material or elsewhere, we only promise to use reasonable skill and care as set out above and we do not have any greater or different liability to you.
(d) The promises we make to you about the services we have agreed to provide or arrange as part of our contract – and the laws and regulations of the country in which your claim or complaint occurred – will be used as the basis for deciding whether the services in question had been properly provided. Please bear in mind that standards of, for example, safety, hygiene, and quality may vary throughout the destinations, services and transport your tour involves and may be lower than or different to those applicable in the UK. If the particular services which gave rise to the claim or complaint complied with the local laws and regulations applicable to those services at the time, the services will be treated as having been properly provided. This will be the case even if the services did not comply with the laws and regulations of the UK which would have applied had those services been provided in the UK. The exception to this is where the claim or complaint concerns the absence of a safety feature which might lead a reasonable holiday maker to refuse to take the tour in question.
(e) As set out in these conditions, we limit the maximum amount we may have to pay you for any claims you may make against us. We do not, however, limit or exclude our liability for death or personal injury caused by the negligence of ourselves or our employees (providing they were at the time acting within the course of their employment). Where we are found liable for loss of and/or damage to any luggage or personal possessions (including money), the maximum amount we will have to pay you is £500 per person affected unless a different limitation applies to your claim under clause 14(6) below. You must ensure you have appropriate travel insurance to protect your personal belongings. For all other claims which do not involve death or personal injury, if we are found liable to you on any basis, the maximum amount we will have to pay you is twice the price (excluding insurance premiums and amendment charges) paid by or on behalf of the person(s) affected in total unless a lower limitation applies to your claim under clause 14 (6) below. This maximum amount will only be payable where everything has gone wrong and you have not received any benefit at all from your tour.
(f) Where any claim or part of a claim (including those involving death or personal injury) concerns or is based on any travel arrangements (including the process of getting on and/or off the transport concerned) provided by any air, sea, rail or road carrier, the maximum amount of compensation we will have to pay you will be limited. The most we will have to pay you for that claim or that part of a claim if we are found liable to you on any basis is the most the carrier concerned would have to pay under the international convention or regulation which applies to the travel arrangements in question were that claim made against it (for example, the Warsaw Convention 1929 as amended or unamended and the Montreal Convention 1999 for international travel by air and/or for airlines with an operating licence granted by an EU country, the EC Regulation on Air Carrier Liability No 889/2002 for national and international travel by air, the Athens Convention 1974 for international travel by sea and COTIF, the Convention on International Travel by Rail. Please note: where a carrier would not be obliged to make any payment to you under the applicable international convention or regulation in respect of a claim or part of a claim, we similarly are not obliged to make a payment to you for that claim or part of the claim. When making any payment, we are entitled to deduct any money which you have received or are entitled to receive from the carrier or hotelier for the complaint or claim in question. Copies of the applicable international conventions and regulations are available from us on request.
(g) Please note, we cannot accept any liability for any damage, loss, expense or other sum(s) of any description (1) which on the basis of the information given to us by you concerning your booking prior to our accepting it, we could not have foreseen you would suffer or incur if we breached our contract with you or (2) which did not result from any breach of contract or other fault by ourselves or our employees or, where we are responsible for them, our suppliers. Additionally we cannot accept liability for any expenses or losses incurred by or relating to any business including self-employed loss of earnings.
(h) You must provide ourselves and our insurers with all assistance we may reasonably require. You must also tell us and the supplier concerned about your claim or complaint as set out in clause 6. If You have a Complaint. If asked to do so, you must transfer to us or our insurers any rights you have against the supplier or whoever else is responsible for your claim or complaint (if the person concerned is under 18, their parent or guardian must do so). You must also agree to cooperate fully with us and our insurers if we or our insurers want to enforce any rights which are transferred.
13. Â Local Excursions and Activities
From time to time we may introduce you to reputable third party suppliers of excursions or other leisure services. If you choose to enter into a contract for the provision of excursions or other leisure services, your contract will be with that supplier directly and we act only in the capacity of an agent, and therefore would have no liability for the proper performance of that contract. The terms and conditions in this Our Agreement With You will not apply to any contract for the provision of excursions or other leisure services.
14. Behavior
When you book a Holiday with First World Tours, you accept responsibility for the proper conduct for yourself and your party whilst on Holiday. Â So if in our reasonable opinion or in the opinion of any airline pilot, hotel manager, tour leader or other person in authority, your behavior is causing or is likely to cause danger, upset or damage to property or is persistently affecting the enjoyment of others, we reserve the right to terminate your holiday. Should this happen, no refund or compensation would be paid and we will have no further responsibility for your holiday arrangements (including any return travel).
15. Health And Safety
We take the safety and security of our clients extremely seriously. If the Foreign Office advises that people should not visit a particular part of the country, then we would act on this and reserve the right to change or cancel your package. However we are sure you appreciate from press and television coverage that the political, economic and social conditions in Africa and Uganda in particular are not as stable as we are used to in Europe. Whilst in the country, it is very important to be extra vigilant and avoid drawing attention to yourself by wearing expensive jewellery, carrying expensive camera equipment etc. Travelers have the same responsibility for their personal safety and that of their possessions, as they do at home. Â Health and Safety does not conform to British health and safety standards. However, we work hotels that comply with the local regulations applicable in their country for health and safety but we cannot guarantee that these meet British standards and therefore urge that you undertake reasonable precautions to protect your family and yourself whilst on holiday.
16. Health & Vaccinations
Health facilities, hygiene and disease risk vary worldwide. You should take health advice about your specific needs as early as possible and ensure that vaccinations or preventative measures such as malaria tablets are taken early enough (which may be a month or more prior to departure) to be fully effective by the date of travel. It is your responsibility to ensure you are aware of all recommended and required vaccination and health precautions in good time before departure. Details are available from your GP surgery and from the National Travel Health Network and Centre www.nathnac.org Sources of information include the Department of Health free leaflet ‘Health advice for travellers’ (available on request Tel. 0207 210 4850), your specialist travel clinic).
17. Data protection/privacy
In order to process your booking and meet your requirements, we must pass your personal details on to the relevant suppliers of your travel arrangements. We would also like to hold your information (including any email address), where collected by us, for our own future marketing purposes (for example, to inform you of promotional/competition offers or to send you our brochure). If you do not wish to receive such approaches in future, please inform us as soon as possible. For full details of our data protection and privacy policy, and an explanation of how your personal details will be used by us, please refer to our privacy policy.
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