A strange sense of déjà vu…
If you dug out the first issues of Travel Weekly from this year and compared them to this week’s, you would wonder if anything new ever happens in the world of travel.
There is very much a feeling of Groundhog Day this week, with the issues of consumer protection, ATOL bonding and the legal wrangle between ABTA and the CAA back on our front page.
But the trouble with court cases is just when you think you’ve won and are about to crack open the champagne, an appeal is lodged that not only puts a dampener on your celebrations, but throws the whole issue back in the air and potentially makes you liable to even bigger legal costs.
The CAA and ABTA locked horns again this week over the court’s decision in January to back ABTA and allow travel agents to sell dynamically packaged holidays without an ATOL bond.
The ruling freed ABTA to introduce a wave of new membership rules that means it is no longer the guardian of consumer protection.
It has also driven a sudden upsurge in the number of dynamically packaged holidays now being sold and promoted across the sector, but particularly in the independent sector.
The CAA, however, insists its appeal is vital as there is still uncertainty about what constitutes a package holiday. It needs clarity so that it can regulate one way or another.
The sector needs closure so that agents can get on with what they do every day and sell holidays – be they packages, flights or hotel beds.
The wranglings require a legal brain to understand, but there are extensive ramifications depending on how the Court of Appeal decides.
If you believe the ABTA counsel and the court rules that travel agents require an ATOL to sell package holidays then it would destroy a large proportion of high-street travel agents. That’s some claim.
If ABTA wins again, the big loser could be the consumer who will be left unsure as to what they are buying is protected or not.
Whatever the verdict ABTA and CAA must issue clear guidance so that the sector can pick up the pieces.
This is a legal pot boiler that affects us all, whether we realise it or not. It is all promised to be over by the end of July so we can then go out and buy a summer package holiday – bonded or not!
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