Abta has urged the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) not to stall on its reform of the Package Travel Regulations (PTRs), with director of legal affairs Simon Bunce declaring “the PTRs are a different kettle of fish from Atol reform”.
Speaking at the Travel Convention in Greece earlier this month, Bunce said: “There has been a real shift in the balance of risk between tour operators and customers, with more and more piled on organisers – which wasn’t what was intended when the PTRs were drafted.
“With every issue that came up during Covid, the European Commission has been looking to place responsibility on tour operators.”
He suggested “the UK has a chance to change that” with the review of the PTRS.
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) issued a Call for Evidence on reform of the PTRs in September last year. That closed in December and the DBT has yet to follow up with a consultation on proposals.
Separately, the European Commission has issued detailed proposals for reform of the Package Travel Directive (PTD), on which the existing PTRs are wholly based. The PTD reform includes proposals to restrict pre-payments for package holidays which have raised serious concerns in the industry.
Bunce insisted: “Consumers are well protected under the PTRs. [But] it has become more expensive and complicated to be a package holiday organiser.
“We were making good progress on the PTRs review. We have a great opportunity to bring some reality back to the tour operator-customer relationship.”
He said: “I understand the DBT is conducting consumer research [on the regulations]. We should embrace reform and get change that benefits the industry.”
Rich Simpson, governance and compliance manager for Mid-Counties Co-operative travel agreed, saying: “Tour operators are responsible for so much. The regulations get used more than they possibly need to be. They could be tightened up.”