27 February 2009

Worldchoice woos agencies with Ã¢â¬Ëœalternative to ABTAÃ¢â¬â¢

Worldchoice is offering a new category of membership as an alternative to ABTA.

The new scheme will cost members at least £250 less than the costs associated with belonging to ABTA, it is claimed.

Worldchoice managing director Simon Hargreaves added: "We have set ourselves the aim of making membership of the scheme at least £250 cheaper than current ABTA costs for our members.

"Just like ABTA, there will be an application process to check certain financial details, but we want to avoid red tape and make the process simple but effective."

The consortium says the scheme enables members to act as travel agents outside of ABTA.

This class of membership will still be based around the existing ACAS payment system and its associated protection arrangements.

The scheme will provide the same level of customer security as ABTA does today but at a lower cost, Worldchoice claims.

It will also continue with the current levels of business partner protection.

The new proposal is being made to Worldchoice members this week so that those who want to move away from ABTA membership have time to put in place their new arrangements before their ABTA subscriptions are due in June.

The move follows a survey of Worldchoice members on their business priorities which found that many wanted the consortium to focus on finding a new alternative to ABTA membership as a high priority.

Hargreaves said: "There are many members who are proud and happy to belong to ABTA, but we can not ignore the fact that a significant number want us to create an alternative option that allows them to provide financial protection but outside of the ABTA scheme.

"They want the scheme to truly represent the independent travel agent."

Worldchoice will look to add further non ACAS business partners to the scheme.

"The ‘non bonded suppliers’ ought to become a standard part of the scheme," said Hargreaves.

"Once the scheme is operational we can decide whether to increase the consumer protection levels and whether any additional member services are required. These changes will be driven by the independent travel agent members."

by Phil Davies