| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 29/05/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 29 |
| Copyright: Other |
Consolidation ‘likely to impact on intermediaries’ business’
TRAVEL insurance intermediaries will start to go out of business as the travel industry continues to consolidate, predicted Mondial Assistance general manager, travel division, Dennis Peckham.“Numbers will reduce as the volume of holiday bookings are concentrated on fewer outlets,”he said.
And he forecast that independent travel agents will continue to disappear through takeovers and mergers, and added: “I doubt the multiples will survive in their current format.”
Peckham said agents will not lose travel insurance sales to the Internet providing they continue to control the point at which holidays are sold to the public.
But he warned that retailers must become more professional in the way they sell insurance.
“Failing to recognise that responsibility will be more of a threat and more damaging to them than the growth of the Internet,” he said.