Saving on CARTA fees may be false economy

Saving on CARTA fees may be false economy

BEFORE we joined the Campaign for Real Travel Agents, I doubt if Ryedale Travel had made more than a handful of Cadogan bookings in the previous 30 years. In 1999, we booked holidays totalling

£8,230 with Cadogan.

Last year this rose to £17,685, and in the first three months of this year, the figure is £10,342 – treble the same period last year. I appreciate these figures are still modest but they should more than cover Cadogan’s increased CARTA subscriptions (Travel Weekly April 16). We started to do business with Cadogan because we made a conscious effort to find out more about the holiday products offered by CARTA operators.

The increased business has nothing to do with directional selling and everything to do with education. CARTA operators have some excellent products. Cadogan is not a one-off example – we have increased business for many CARTA operators and the trend is definitely upwards.

I fear Gary David’s saving on CARTA subscriptions could prove to be a false economy.

Phil Cornelius

Managing director

Ryedale Travel

North Yorkshire