Proposed £1 ATOL levy comes under fire
Two key travel companies have spoken out against the proposed £1 ATOL levy.
Travel Counsellors claims customers should not bear the burden of the levy, which is designed to protect them from the financial failure of their tour operator.
“Whilst the £1 customer levy to replace ATOL will indeed be welcomed by the trade, I cannot for the life of me see why this fee should be borne by the customer,” said chairman David Speakman.
“After all, the customer is being asked to pay to guarantee that his holiday company will not go bust. Just try asking a customer to pay a similar fee to guarantee that the company he bought a fridge from doesn’t go bust before the fridge is delivered.
“On the face of it, the same rules will apply to what is a package at present and I am disappointed that the Department for Transport has missed the opportunity to bring all travel components sold individually or collectively into the equation. There are still far too many exceptions.”
Meanwhile, the Co-operative Travel Trading Group (CTTG) said although it welcomed the levy ‘in principle’, it also believes it should be extended.
Chief operating officer Mike Greenacre said: “As a group of consumer-owned businesses, we’ve been fighting for this for some time and must applaud the Government for adopting this common sense approach.
”The fact remains, however, that this will still leave many travellers buying scheduled airline tickets, accommodation only and car hire outside the scheme’s safety net.
“It’s vital that the momentum that has built behind this issue should not now be lost. We will continue to argue that the levy should be extended to cover these travellers and their needs.”
He added: “Given the highly competitive state of the marketplace, and the recent spate of failures, we question whether £1 would be sufficient to replenish the Air Travel Trust Fund quickly enough. Time will tell on this point.”
If approved, the £1 levy will come into force from April 1 2008.
Most other travel companies and associations, including ABTA, have welcomed the move.
By Lisa James and Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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