Germany's TUI offers to fly Tunisia tourists home

[FRANKFURT] German tour operator TUI said on Friday that it is organising flight for tourists wishing to return from Tunisia after at least 27 people were killed in a gun attack at a Tunisian beachside hotel.

TUI also said that tourists who had booked Tunisian holidays for this summer could rebook or cancel the trips free of charge until September 15, adding that it currently has 3,800 German tourists in the North African country.

Meanwhile, British travel operator Thomas Cook said it would allow customers to amend their bookings to Tunisia free of charge for holidays departing up to and including July 24.

Foreign tourists were among those killed when at least one gunman opened fire on the hotel in the popular resort of Sousse on Friday, a Tunisian interior ministry spokesman said. No one immediately claimed the attack. But Islamist militants have attacked North African tourist sites before.

"There is currently no reliable information about whether any TUI Germany guests are affected," the company said in a statement.

Tunisia has been on high alert since March, when Islamist militant gunmen attacked the Bardo museum in Tunis, killing a group of foreign tourists in one of the worst attacks in a decade in the North African country.

REUTERS