A major class action lawsuit against travel operator Tui is bringing renewed attention to long-standing concerns within the tourism industry regarding alleged poor hygiene at resorts and the broader issue of fraudulent sickness claims. Tui is preparing to defend itself against a multimillion-pound class action initiated by hundreds of tourists who allege they fell ill after booking holidays to its Cape Verde resorts.

The lawsuit, spearheaded by law firm Irwin Mitchell, claims approximately 1,500 holidaymakers experienced illness between 2022 and early 2026 due to unhygienic conditions. Among the allegations is a reported outbreak of shigellosis, which is believed to have contributed to as many as eight deaths. One specific case cited is that of a 71-year-old woman who reportedly died in May 2024. A six-week trial for the class action is scheduled to commence at the High Court in late 2027.

Initial court filings indicate compensation claims ranging from £200,000 to £400,000 for the first 64 litigants, which could average around £3,000 per claimant. However, some individual claims are for as little as £10. Legal sources suggest that Irwin Mitchell could potentially earn more than £10 million in legal costs alone should the action prove successful. Irwin Mitchell stated it adheres to "strict professional rules on costs, evidence and client care."

Industry observers and legal experts argue that such large-scale litigation, particularly when involving what some refer to as "vague" claims, significantly contributes to the escalating cost of package holidays for all consumers. Sonia Macleod, a research specialist in class litigation at Oxford University, commented that the combined effect of claims and lawyers' fees ultimately drives up prices for everyone. Industry sources, while acknowledging deaths and serious illness among tourists to the Atlantic archipelago, have questioned the specificity of some claims.

This sentiment is consistent with broader industry data from previous years. By 2016, bogus holiday gastric illness claims were estimated to cost UK travel businesses £240 million annually. Abta, the trade association for tour operators, estimated in the same year that fraudulent sickness claims were adding up to 15 percent to the cost of a typical holiday. In 2017, Thomas Cook, prior to its collapse, initiated private prosecutions against British tourists whose social media posts appeared to contradict their claims of holiday sickness. Macleod noted that "the problem of false claims did not end after the Thomas Cook action."

One barrister with experience in holiday sickness cases highlighted the challenge in verifying such claims, stating that while difficult to prove, they are equally hard to disprove when symptoms like gastric illness are reported. With the average British person expected to spend about £2,600 on foreign trips in 2025, a 15 percent increase attributed to false claims could add nearly £400 to the cost of an individual holiday, according to calculations based on industry estimates. The unfolding Tui litigation serves as a focal point for these ongoing industry debates.