While many will spend months saving for and dreaming about a holiday at an all-inclusive resort, this type of trip can quickly turn disastrous with a case of gastrointestinal infection. The illness tends to proliferate in tropical climates during the winter months, and also when food is left out.

Over the course of several months in 2022, more than 300 British tourists who stayed at the Riu Palace Santa Maria Hotel in Cape Verde fell ill with a bacterial infection known as shigella, The Sun reported. In the cases of 64-year-old Elena Walsh, 62-year-old Jane Pressley, and 55-year-old Mark Ashley, the illness was severe enough to lead to their deaths weeks after returning home from the trip.

With instances of gastrointestinal illness periodically breaking out at different hotels on the island in the three years that passed, 300 vacationers, including Pressley’s widower, are now suing German travel agency Tui Group for sending them to hotels that engaged in poor food safety and hygiene practices.

“They all ate and drank exclusively at the hotel”: Tui Group sued over gastro illness outbreak

The group action lawsuit taken up by the British High Court claims that more than 1,500 tourists have suffered gastrointestinal illness from staying at properties owned by Spanish chain Riu over the last three years. The involved properties are part of Tui Group’s network of hotels to which the German travel company sends guests and advertises holiday packages.

“The claimants were all staying at the hotel on an all-inclusive basis, so that they all ate and drank exclusively — or in some cases predominantly — at the hotel during their time in Cape Verde before they became ill,” the claim reads.

“Each of the claimants became ill with symptoms of gastric illness either during their stay at the hotel or shortly after their departure from the hotel.”

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London-based law firm Irwin Mitchel is representing the travelers, and trial dates are set across six weeks at the end of 2026. The cases involving Riu Palace Santa Maria were the first to be examined at a pretrial hearing at the start of February.

The claimants are requesting individual damages that could result in more than £5 million (roughly $6.84 million USD) in total compensation payments.

Tui Group is a German airline and travel company dating back to the 1920s.

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Tui and Riu Hotels respond, say they are “deeply saddened” by traveler deaths

Tui and Riu Hotels & Resorts had earlier this month released a joint statement saying they were “deeply saddened” by the deaths and wanted to extend “heartfelt condolences to the families affected,” while denying liability for the cases of illness.

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More recent outbreaks that took place at more properties throughout Cape Verde during the holiday period have led to the U.K. Foreign Office and U.K. Health Services Agency both issuing an advisory warning spring travelers about shigella and salmonella outbreaks traced to the African island in particular.

“Since 1 October 2025, a total of 43 cases of Salmonella from 3 separate clusters identified using whole genome sequencing, have been linked to travel to Cape Verde,” reads the advisory, which also tells travelers to wash their hands before consuming food and stay hydrated in cases when illness is suspected.

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