By Mark Tanzer, chief executive of Atba
The travel industry and our customers are under unprecedented assault from unscrupulous claims companies.
Having seen the lucrative ‘whiplash’ market closed off, and with PPI claims coming to an end, they have switched their attention to holiday sickness claims.
As a result we have seen a five-fold increase in sickness claims since 2013 – this in spite of no increase in in-resort reporting of incidents, nor in any increase in claims from other nationalities.
The costs of defending these claims – even those that we’re fairly sure are unsubstantiated – are exorbitant, so either way, defending or settling, the industry is picking up a hefty tab.
So hefty, in fact, that hoteliers are talking seriously about scrapping the all-inclusive model (whose customers are the main target for the claims companies), or barring UK guests.
At the very least, the cost of bogus claims will have to be passed onto genuine customers, and may well restrict their holiday choices.
So what’s to be done? Solving this problem requires action on a number of fronts, and collaboration between the UK industry, the destination hotels and the agencies of government.
Abta has been leading the charge in lobbying for changes in court rules that will bring overseas sickness claims within a fixed legal costs regime, making it easier to defend spurious claims, and less attractive for claims companies and lawyers to pursue them.
When the new government is in place after the election we will be continuing to push this as a priority issue.
We have also been raising public awareness that making a bogus claim – even if encouraged to do so by the claims companies – is a criminal offence and could result in higher holiday prices.
Of course, people do occasionally get ill on holiday, and it is right that they can claim against their UK holiday organiser where there is negligence.
But there are cost effective channels for legitimate claims – Abta, for example, runs a personal injury dispute resolution system – and we need to make our customers aware of these routes.
Raising customers’ awareness of what to do if they genuinely get ill – reporting it immediately in resort, for example – and how to claim on return will help drive business away from the claims companies.
