The newly formed Association of Travel Agents (ATA) has decided to join a European lobby group as it prepares to fight off proposed new legislation it says threatens to “outlaw agency status”.
The group was formally created last Thursday at a first meeting where members from around 12 agents and agency groups agreed a five-point agenda for the new association.
One of the first acts will be to join European Technology and Travel Services Association (ETTSA), which was launched in 2009 to promote the interests of GDSs and travel distributors.
ETTSA membership includes the likes of ebookers and Expedia as well as all three main GDSs, Sabre, Travelport and Amadeus.
A source told Travel Weekly that the ASA will lobby the European Commission with ETTSA, as well as lobbying the UK government, the CAA and Abta.
“What the ATA is is a lobby group to try to get Abta back to where we want it to be. Why should we give up the ‘Association of British Travel Agents’ to a bunch of tour operators?” He said.
ETTSA has produced a paper on the proposed changes to the European Travel Directive that very much accord with the view of the new group, Travel Weekly was told.
It is also possible that the new association could take on other causes on behalf of travel agents, like the current round of commission cuts in the cruise sector.
This has already seen the Travel Network Group and Advantage Travel Centres come together to oppose the move by a series of major cruise operators.