A group of over 50 tourists from Argentina have been left stranded in Scotland after being ‘scammed’ by a travel company.
The tourists, who hail from the towns of Roca, Regina, Catriel, Cutral Co and Zapala in the provinces of Neuquén and Río Negro, reportedly paid around $8 million Argentine Pesos (around £6,600) each - over several months - to a travel firm to secure their place on the three-week-long trip to Europe.
The group departed Ezeiza International Airport near Buenos Aires on July 6 and are scheduled to return home from Madrid on July 28.
Having already visited France and Portugal without issue, the group of tourists arrived in Edinburgh prior to scheduled visits to Greece and then Spain.
READ MORE: Can Scottish tourism industry learn from Portugal?
Argentine regional news site ANRoca reports that the group encountered problems soon after they arrived in Edinburgh, when they discovered that no accommodation had been booked for their stay.
The group of tourists are currently believed to be staying in a student residence in Edinburgh.
One of those affected told the site: “We paid the organizer every month and at no time did we have any doubts about the viability of the trip.
“The truth is that right now everything is uncertain. We are in a student residence because we don’t have a hotel and we don’t know what will happen. We are organizing ourselves collectively to buy food and get through the days.”
The group also claim they have been asked to pay an additional amount to secure their seat on the flight home from Madrid next week.
Another tourist added: “Now we are adrift. Many of us have return tickets for the 28th, but we don’t know what to do because to return we have to pay a sum of money that many of us don’t have.”
La Nacion reports that the group sought assistance from the Argentine Consulate in Edinburgh to assist them, but were informed that no assistance would be forthcoming as it was “a conflict between private parties”.
It comes after a global IT outage affecting thousands of businesses sparked severe delays at airports across the UK - including Edinburgh.
Cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike confirmed the issue came from a “defect” in a content update for its Microsoft Windows users, resulting in flights being grounded, health care services affected and online payment systems shut down.
Staff at Edinburgh Airport urged those travelling on Friday to expect security waits of “around one hour” due to the system outage.
Flights were delayed while others were completely cancelled, leaving travellers in limbo.
Texas resident Stephanie Thompson was among those affected after visiting the UK for Wimbledon and The Open Championship in Troon, with her 9.25am flight to Heathrow and onward flight to Dallas, cancelled.
She said she was so concerned about getting home she decided to pay $6,800 (£5,300) for her family to fly home later on Friday evening.
She said: “We couldn’t get an answer from anybody. British Airways kept hanging up saying we have too many calls right now. I was on hold with American (Airlines) for about an hour and 10 minutes before I finally hung up.
“We just paid 6,800 dollars for a one-way trip home. I didn’t know what else to do. I just wanted something to get us home.”
By around lunchtime on Friday the situation at the airport improved, with the long queues of travellers waiting to get into the airport having cleared.
AGS Airports, which owns and operates Aberdeen and Glasgow airports, said they were “largely unaffected”.
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