ABTA president Steven Freudmann claims a proposal to bring in outside consultants to look at the body’s £4m running costs could be higher than any potential savings.
“I am not sure how much consultants might cost, but if they are looking at the whole association it will be over six figures,” he said.
“That may or may not negate the whole purpose of the exercise – we don’t want to cut our services. There is little point in going ahead if the cost is too steep.”
ABTA’s board of directors has asked chief executive Ian Reynolds to come up with recommendations for saving money at its meeting on July 28.
Taking on a firm of consultants to look at cutting costs – which could possibly include making redundancies – is an option being pushed by board members Warren Sandral, Andy Cooper and John Harding (Travel Weekly June 21).
Harding said it was still worth bringing in consultants, which he estimated would cost between £50,000 and £100,000, even if they found there was no need to make changes.