A six-day and five-night vacation trip to Dubai planned by a 56-member group comprising families, friends and relatives from Hyderabad and Secunderabad went awry on Tuesday.

This happened as the tour operator failed to deliver visas in time. It was a huge disappointment for the group which reached the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport before 6 am as the Emirates flight to Dubai was scheduled for 10.20 am.

“Visas of only 24 people, that too women, were sent by Colourful Vacations Private Limited, a Delhi-based tour operator. All the tickets were confirmed but for the visas. Women said they will not go unless the entire group is accommodated,” said K. Srinivas, a member of the group who had organised the tour. Bringing together the 56 people of the group was not an easy task and it took weeks of hectic planning. Most members of the group are businessmen.

“First we were told the visas would be delivered after Bakrid. Before we started from our houses in the morning Colourful Vacations said they would e-mail the visas and we could download it at the airport. It was very disappointing,” said another member of the group. All the 56 members of the group were stranded at the airport from morning to evening. Initially, the response was not proper from the tour operator but when the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) police intervened and told the tour operator that an FIR would be filed against Colourful Vacations, the company swung into action and e-mailed the visas of everyone except five people in the evening.

The remaining visas are expected on Tuesday night. However, no case was booked by the RGIA police as the tour operator rescheduled the tour to Wednesday. “We will be flying out to Dubai on Wednesday hopefully,” said K. Srinivas. Another member of the group said the tour operator had collected Rs 58,000 from each person for a six days and five nights tour of Dubai including hotel accommodation, food and sightseeing.

“It was planned six months ago but we are all disappointed. We hope everything will go well on Wednesday. We are close friends, relatives and are like a big family,” said another group member. RGIA police inspector Bhaskar Reddy confirmed that no case was booked as the group decided not to file a complaint against the tour operator.

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BY M. DIVYA SRI