Travel Counsellors chairman David Speakman told delegates at the company’s annual conference to take advantage of proposed changes to the European Package Travel Directive as it will impact negatively on rival online travel agents (OTAs).
It has been widely speculated that the European Commission will announce an extension of the directive next year, bringing Flight-Plus dynamic packages into the regime.
Leading OTAs such as Travel Republic and On The Beach, and suppliers including On Holiday Group and Lowcostbeds.com, are so concerned about the changes that they have formed the Association of Travel Agents to lobby against the proposals.
Travel Counsellors is not a member of this group and was the first travel organisation to be confirmed as having Accredited Body status by the Civil Aviation Authority following reforms earlier this year.
Speakman told delegates: “The Package Travel Directive will have a negative impact on OTAs. View this as an opportunity to use the tools and knowledge you have. It’s a case of seamless pleasure, which is what you provide as travel counsellors, versus disconnected risk, which customers take when they book online.”
Details of how the European Commission intends to reform the PTD are expected to emerge early next year when it publishes its proposals for first time.
Speakman said industry changes such as commission cuts and increased direct selling posed a challenge for middle men.
But he said the company’s Phenix dynamic packaging system, set up five years ago, had protected its business so that now only 30% of the agency’s sales are of third-party packages.