SPAA survey finds many Scots ‘clueless’ about travel legislation
A survey by Scottish travel agents has found 42% of Scots admit they are totally clueless about travel legislation and their rights under consumer protection.
The poll of just over 500 leisure and business travellers, commissioned by the Scottish Passenger Agents’ Association, showed 65% of travellers wrongly believed that they would be able to get their money back if their airline failed to deliver.
Around 75% were aware of the Air Travel Organiser’s License (ATOL) but only 12% knew about the Package Travel Directive (PTD), a regulation updated on July 1.
SPAA president Ken McLeod said he was surprised by the survey’s results.
"Around two-fifths responded by stating that they were not knowledgeable at all about travel legislation, and younger travellers were most likely to have the biggest gaps in their understanding. This is surprising, given that Scots now make more outbound journeys than at any time in the past.”
The SPAA also asked travellers about what influences them when planning and booking their holiday.
The biggest influences were from internet search engines and travel websites (for example TripAdvisor), both indicated by 43% of the respondents.
Personal recommendations were next on the list (34%), followed by online travel agents (26%), brochures (15%) and travel agents (15%).
The SPAA said young people aged 16 to 34 were just as likely to turn to agents for advice as older travellers.
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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