About 30 pupils from Taieri College were to travel to Nepal next year and about 20 from Dunedin’s Kavanagh College would have travelled to Cambodia this year but neither tour can go ahead.
The trips were cancelled because of Covid-19 but schools, parents and pupils look set to be in for a battle to get any refunds.
The Australian firm that organised the tours — Antipodeans Abroad — has been in a dispute with its insurer and is now in liquidation.
Parents of Taieri College pupils will meet tomorrow to discuss what they can do.
School principal David Hunter said the trip to Nepal was planned for the April school holidays in 2021.
Families had paid a significant portion of the tour’s cost already.
Mr Hunter said the aim of the meeting would be to inform parents, though information had been lacking, and to plot a course forward.
Recent developments were a disappointing side-effect of Covid-19, he said.
He declined to say how much money was at stake.
Kavanagh College pupils were due to tour Cambodia this month and it is understood the trip was cancelled in May.
The planned programme in Cambodia included helping to build a house for a family and a trek, parent Mike Reeve said.
The tour group going into liquidation and the insurer refusing to pay out were especially frustrating for pupils who had raised money and done part-time work.
They had paid about $7300 each, Mr Reeve said.
"They have made a lot of sacrifices in holidays and weekends, for all their hard-earned money to be lost.
"It is a disgrace.’’
Antipodeans Abroad has been sending high school pupils and university groups overseas for almost 30 years.
One thing that has puzzled parents in both Australia and New Zealand is where their money has gone.
In some cases, bookings for such things as accommodation appeared not to have been made.
Liquidators Hall Chadwick were called in on July 8, Australian media reported.
Antipodeans Abroad chief executive Lachlan Bunn said Covid-19 and the company’s insurer had delivered a "fatal blow"to the company, 7News reported.
Insurer 360 Accident and Health refused to pay out.
Some parents in Australia have lodged complaints with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority and others have contacted Hall Chadwick.
Antipodeans Abroad had started court action against the insurer before the company went into liquidation.
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Oh great, i lent $1,000+ to someone i know so they could pay for part of one of those trips, so there goes that money down the drain. I can't ask the family to pay me back out of their own money, as it's not fair to them.
I too am wondering how it has just disappeared, what was the company spending it all on?