A tourist enjoys the sun at a resort in Bavaro, Dominican Republic. Go South Tours, which booked flights to the Caribbean and Mexico, announced Wednesday it was shutting down.A tourist enjoys the sun at a resort in Bavaro, Dominican Republic. Go South Tours, which booked flights to the Caribbean and Mexico, announced Wednesday it was shutting down. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

A Halifax-based online tour operator has ceased its operations and left customers with cancelled flights and vacation plans.

Go Travel South announced on its website Wednesday afternoon that it was shutting down due to "economic circumstances."

"Please do not show up to the airport for you flights as they will not be departing," the message read.

What you can do if your tour operator goes out of business:

  • Customers who booked their vacation using a credit card should contact their credit card company for a refund for services not rendered.
  • Travellers who opted for travel insurance should check if the coverage includes operator default, which provides reimbursement should a tour operator or air carrier go out of business.
  • The Canadian Transportation Agency accepts complaints from consumers dissatisfied with the air portion of a travel package. Complaints about the land portion of the trip must be dealt with by provincial and territorial authorities dealing with travel.

Go Travel South, which was previously based in Ottawa as Go Travel Direct, sold direct flights to sun destinations including the Dominican Republic and Mexico.

The company told customers they will not be responding to any emails and advised them to contact their credit card providers in order to receive a refund.

Moncton resident Dominic Vautour and his wife, a school teacher, booked a March Break getaway with Go Travel South last month. They were set to leave Friday for Puerto Plata, when Vautour received an email from the company Wednesday afternoon. The news of the sudden closure left him with his "hands shaking for three hours" out of frustration, he said.

He quickly called his credit-card provider and was told he could get his money back, but would have to wait until after the travel dates.

Vautour and his wife also went online and rebooked their vacation through another tour operator.

"We decided we were still going to go down no matter what," he said.

They managed to arrange a vacation in Puerto Plata on the same dates as their original holiday.

Despite the incident, Vautour said he's still confident using online tour operators. He said he booked vacations in the past through Go Travel when it was still based in Ottawa without any problem. But he added that he'll be more wary now.

"In the future we'll definitely be more careful about companies that change their names and change their locations."

Meanwhile, Flair Air Ltd., the airline that supplied Go Travel South with its flights, posted a message on its website Wednesday saying it would fulfil its obligations and fly Canadians back who were already away on vacation.

Toronto-based Conquest Vacations ended its operations last April.