ARTAC Worldchoice chairman Colin Heal angrily hit back at claims that members of his consortium have sacrificed their independence by tying up with Thomas Cook.
Speaking during a debate on the consortium at the ABTA Convention in Cairns, Heal stressed that all of his members can sell which operators they want, hire and fire their own staff and make their own business decisions.
Responding to claims that ARTAC agents are no longer independent, Heal said: “I am sick of all this nonsense. We are as independent as anyone else. I cannot stress that enough. We account for only 3% of JMC sales and while we may double or perhaps even triple this amount over time that does not mean we will not offer customers a choice.”
Advantage president Roger Smith also reiterated his consortium’s independence.
“We rack around 400 operators of which 100 are preferred suppliers,” he said. “We will never sell anyone the wrong holiday.”
However, he added that agents were obliged to directionally sell operators with whom they have commercial deals.
“If not, why have the deal in the first place?” he said.
But Ken McLeod, chief executive of the Scottish Passenger Agents Retail Consortium, said agents dropped out of Advantage to join SPARC because they wanted to retain their independence.
He added: “I would be worried if I was Thomas Cook or Airtours listening to what ARTAC and Advantage are saying. Both will want a delivery on their investment.”