THE creation of TrulyIndependent Professional Travel Organisation has divided the independent sector of the travel market just when a concerted effort to strengthen the Association of Independent Tour Operators and Campaign for Real Travel Agents network was needed.
As a member of CARTA for several years, and as anon-franchise member of the Advantage consortium, I was confident that all the changes taking place in the industry would lead to theestablishment of an effective independent sector.
As a member of Advantage we have benefited mainly from increased commission levels, very necessary to counter the drop in airline commission, and not least the opportunity to meet fellow independents at the annual conference when we can discuss and shareopinions on subjects relevant to our sector of the travelmarket.
The CARTA membership has provided us with arelationship with many specialist operators, which offer a high quality, good value,knowledgeable and caringservice.
As the major tour operators and their agency networks concentrate on the mass-market products – with the exceptions of some excellent in-house independents such as Cresta, Bridge, Simply, Magic, Crystal, Unijet – I don’t understand why AITO and CARTA can not be used as theplatform for this independent organisation.
Andrew Brownrigg
Managing director
Haslemere Travel
Surrey