PRICE gouging is reportedly forcing winners of passes to the Anzac Day centenary commemoration at Gallipoli next year to abandon their travel plans.
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Amid claims some Turkish hotels at Eceabat (the nearest town to the Gallipoli battlefield) and nearby Canakkale have increased prices by 300 per cent, hundreds of the 8000 pass winners have handed back their tickets.
Some have said the cost of the trip is now unaffordable, while others have changed plans for other personal reasons.
But two Wagga winners from the first ballot said they had not been affected by the alleged price explosion.
Tegan Nash and Cheryl Honey booked through travel agents or tour companies after winning their passes in April and have not been advised yet of any price changes.
"We are booked on a tour and we have not encountered any of those issues at this time," said Mrs Honey, who will travel with her husband, Geoff.
Ms Nash booked her trip though a travel agency in Wagga.
"I have had no trouble at all with the Gallipoli side of the trip yet, but there has been a little hiccup with the Somme (in France)," Ms Nash said.
She said her travel agent had been advised of a big price in accommodation for her tour around the Western Front after Anzac Day, 2015.
As a result, they are looking around for alternative accommodation.
Despite Ms Nash and the Honeys not being slugged with price rises, it is understood some other people have pulled out of their Gallipoli trip after doing all the sums.
It is possible the most affected are those who have not booked though an agent or tour company, who generally have negotiated prices with hotels long ago and have long-standing relationships.
The assistant manager of tour company On The Go, Jane Laird, said none of the hotels her company dealt with in Turkey had hiked their charges.
"We have been using them for a lot of years and have been locked in for a while," she said.