Travelling fans fear being victims of greed after Olympic postponement

Thousands of fans planning to travel to the Olympics in Tokyo face uncertainty over flight refunds and reimbursements from hotels, after the 2020 Games were postponed until next year due to the coronavirus pandemic and fear they may become victims of greed.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) last month made the decision to delay the Games because of the disease which has now claimed over 100,000 lives worldwide.

The IOC has said that tickets for sporting events will be refunded if people cannot attend in 2021, but admitted that it could "not comment on hotel or flight bookings which were done through third parties".

An American professor of sport management at the University of Washington had reserved 31 rooms for her students for 26 days at a cost of $90,000 (82,300 euros).

She says that if she does not ask for the ticket reimbursement, hoping that her students can make the new dates from July 23 to August 8 next year, there is "no guarantee" that the hotel and plane reservations will be postponed accordingly.

"We are still waiting on both the hotel and the airline," Lisa Delpy Neirotti told AFP.

"They said it would take a while to let us know.

"I truly believe that if hoteliers and airlines start to be greedy and not work with Olympic fans or organisations, the government will need to step in, as it will not look good for Japan tourism, but for Japan as a country."
"I am not asking to recover this amount but just to transfer the reservation to 2021."
"But the exact conditions of insurance do not say clearly if the pandemic is covered."
- Shock for Japanese hotels -
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