I DO appreciate that Todd Carpenter’s weekly TTA advert always tries to be provocative, though not normally at the expense of the truth, but I do feel that his current attack on independents hits well below the belt (Travel Weekly March 8).
As an ex-member of The Global Travel Group (whose aims I still admire – even though its technology was a little too futuristic for us – and we still have several friends there) and as a current member of The Nova Travel Group, I strongly resent any unjustified attack on my personal independence, particularly as TTAmembers naturally hope to earn similar sorts of incentives from belonging to an umbrella group in exactly the same way as do Global and Nova members.
I am as fiercely independent as ever, whilst welcoming the Trust funds that allow us to operate without an ATOL, in the same way that TTA members value their freedom.
But I also welcome the assistance and opportunity to deal with more operators at more advantageous terms than as a ‘one-off’ independent.
Don Rainbow
Rainbow Flights
Northampton