Travel company responds to refund requests

A major tour operator says it is moving swiftly to allay customer concerns about bookings and refunds.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Rod Sims this week warned travel companies terms and conditions at the time of purchase remained in place despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

Revealing talks were under way with Intrepid Travel, he said original refund arrangements or cancellation policies must be honoured.

Intrepid Travel CEO James Thornton told AAP on Friday the company had formed a critical response team and would honour its its original booking conditions, despite the global travel shutdown.

He said the company's focus in recent weeks had been getting more than 3000 travellers home safely.

"As a result, we haven't responded quickly enough to customers with future travel plans and we apologise for this," he said.

"We have now formed a critical response team, adding key staff at every level, so that we can speed up our customer relations processes."