EcoTour’s one day trekking trip to Kondelus Village !

[kombizz kashani]

Unprofessional Reputed Iranian Nature Tour Company

The EcoTour company (Eco Expert Ltd) in Tehran, Iran is an eco tourism nature company. They were established 1998 to promote Iran's eco tourism attractions and to improve bio-cultural attitudes among people, both locally and internationally, and to pave the way for interested tourists. They claim to have received approval from the three top Iranian Tourism Training Centres, the Iranian Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organisation and hold classes and training courses about nature and its value.

Mr Ali Adhami, the board of directors in their website says: "We guarantee well- equipped, selectively catered, safe and eco- friendly trips ."

On 10 August 2007, I took my mother and her friend on EcoTour’s one day trekking trip to Kondelus Village. Unfortunately the company hired a mini-bus driver who was not familiar with the road to Chaloos that has a series of dangerous winding sections and tunnels. As a result, the bus driver hit the wall of Tunnel No 6. As a result of the resulting huge impact, my mother fell over and was badly injured, she suffered shock of accident and injuries to her foot.

My mother needed financial assistance for medical treatment, but Ecotours told us they would pay nothing towards the cost as all the expenses would be paid for by the driver’s Third Party Insurance. This contradicts what Ecotours have told passengers that whoever travels with them is insured for 1,000,000 tomans for hospital, doctors’ expenses. I feel that they contradict themselves because they try to escape from their responsibility toward my mother and myself and other passengers.

Unfortunately none of Ecotour's directors, Mr Ali Adhami, Dr Houman Jowkar, Dr Houshang Ziaie, Dr Bijan Farhang Darreh-shouri or it's tour leaders, Mr M. Manzarnejad, Ms Azadeh Jouhari, Mr Aliuleslam have called my poor mother to find out if she is alive or dead after 10 days !!

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Some times, I wonder what Ecotour's response would be if my mother had been a foreign tourist travelling with them? Do you think it would be different?

 

[Ray West]

Hi Kombizz,

I'm sorry to hear about your mother, hopefully she will get well soon. wrt foreign tourists, I'm not sure what would happen. Usually foreign tourists have separate travel insurance. I suspect their insurance company would pay out, and then they would probably claim from the tour operators.

I have no idea about the law/legal system in Iran, but I would think that if your contract is with the tour operator, and they have published 'promises', then it is they that are liable to you. The fact that they decided to hire a cheap driver should not be your problem. However, virtually every company, world wide, will always try and duck out of their liabilities. After all, it is money in their pocket, not yours. I hope you can succeed in shaming them to do the right thing.

Best wishes,

Ray