06 October 2008

Trade must pull together for universal passenger protection

ABTA Travel Convention Comment by John McEwan, chief executive, Advantage Travel Centres

In the many years I have worked in the travel industry I have seen companies collapse with holidaymakers stranded in various parts of the world.

Back in past times repatriating those people was often handled easily and smoothly with everyone automatically covered by bonds.Ã~

But the advent of internet booking has shown the huge gap we now have.Ã~ There are Ã~lots of good companies selling holidays and flights on the web and offering safeguards should anything go wrong however in some cases consumers will not have the necessary protection and, more importantly, will be unaware of this.

When XL collapsed the whole industry came together to help and I really think we should all be congratulated for the efforts, team work and response that was given by everyone involved.

TV news programmes and newspapers were showing distressing scenes with pictures of holidaymakers including young children sleeping on airport floors.Ã~ And we must remember that even now, almost a month on, the CAA is still helping consumers affected by the demise of XL.

You still hear members of the public talking about how they know someone who was affected saying their brother, mother, neighbour was stranded or that they have lost their holiday.

Maybe itÃ¢â¬â¢s the number of people that were affected by the collapse of XL or, the number of collapses of holiday companies and airlines in succession, but there is a consensus throughout the industry that consumer protection is unsatisfactory.

Travel industry leaders must now pull in the same direction to put a universal protection in place.

Enough discussion has taken place although I am sure there will be much moreÃ~at the Travel Convention.

We know what has to be done, we must get the government to commit to support the industry when problems arise and, we must ensure that consumers feel safe and happy that the flight, holiday, hotel booking they make is protected no matter what.Ã~

The value of agents has now come to the fore with evidence that bookings through travel agents have increased as consumers turn to them for expert advice and ensuring they are protected.

This is a great opportunity for the travel industry in what are difficult times.Ã~ The great British public who love their annual holidays, up until now, are being hit from all directions so why should we give them yet something else to worry about.

In order to achieve this it needs for the whole industry to lobby government to achieve a situation where all consumers are protected and to drive the message home that their holidays are safe.

If we donÃ¢â¬â¢t put our words into action now confidence will be undermined and it will take a long time for our industry to regain that trust.

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