Let’s pull together to lobby Government, says ABTA
Thursday, 08 Oct, 2010
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Travel companies have been urged to work together to influence the Government on key issues rather than focussing on their differences and analysing why the industry is poor at lobbying.
The sector has long been seen as ineffective at lobbying, partly because there are various trade bodies with different interests and a lack of universal agreement on issues like consumer protection.
But ABTA head of public affairs Luke Pollard said companies could still pull together.
“Everyone has got an opinion, but few companies have got a lobbying strategy,” he said. “We don’t have people engaging with politicians. We should be turning things around and focussing on how we get to see [transport secretary] Philip Hammond but we’re too busy talking about divisions.
“If you look elsewhere, Coke and Pepsi, for example, rarely agree with each other on anything, but they know the battles they have to fight together.
“Every company should be doing some lobbying work together in a co-ordinated approach and we need long-term strategies.”
Pollard was speaking at a lunch, organised by Travelmole in association with ASB Law, in which key industry figures discussed how the travel industry could best influence the Government.
Travel Trust Association operations director Gary Lewis stressed the need for the law to provide a level playing field on consumer protection for all companies.
Despite this, Pollard said companies offering fully protected packages and firms dynamically packaging could still work together.
“I’m confident everyone would accept a fair outcome if there was a policy change,” he said.
Cosmos managing director Hugh Morgan defended the appointment of Kane Pirie, managing director of dynamic packaging company Travel Republic, to the ABTA board. “He’s an intelligent guy, his company has got a big chunk of the market and ABTA unanimously felt he would have something to offer.”
Monarch group distribution director Stuart Jackson was among those saying the media had a big role to play and could be campaigning on the industry’s behalf on key issues.
Advantage Travel Centres managing director John McEwan said it was important to work with the government on transportation issues.
“Of course the Government won’t reduce Air Passenger Duty, but we want it applied fairly,” he said. “There needs to be a fair tax take and a drive towards greater efficiency.”
The group also felt it was important to correct anomalies in the cost of APD. The tax is levied at different rates depending on the distance to a country’s capital city, which means there is a higher tax on flights to the Caribbean than to Hawaii.
McEwan revealed that ABTA was holding regional meetings with MPs to discuss industry issues and educate them about the complexities of the business.
ATPI divisional managing director UK, USA and France Peter Muller said there was a big switch to business travellers using private jets following the ash cloud crisis.
By Jeremy Skidmore
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