Abta director of legal affairs Simon Bunce looks ahead to the Travel Law Seminar in May
When Abta held its first annual Travel Law Seminar in 1998, travel agents, tour operators and customers were coming to terms with a rapidly changing travel marketplace.
At the start of the 1990s the Package Travel Regulations (PTRs) did not exist. Bookings were predominately made face to face or by phone. Low-cost airlines were a novelty. Booking online wasn’t a thing.
By the end of the decade the world had changed. On one hand, the PTRs had formalised the way packages were sold and managed. On the other hand, direct booking on the internet with airlines and bed banks had changed customers’ perceptions of holiday travel, and travel companies had to respond.
At the same time, many things might seem familiar. The Gulf War in 1991 led to the failure of International Leisure Group – a failure people were still referring back to until the even larger failure of Thomas Cook in 2019 – resulting in a review of financial protection.
Many court cases during the 1990s, such as Wilson v Best Travel, laid down the core principles for how travel claims are dealt with today. And the industry was as dynamic as ever with new types of holidays and new booking processes.
Over the past 25 years, the Travel Law Seminar has brought together industry specialists, government officials, regulators and legal professionals to help the industry understand the ever-changing legal landscape in which Abta members operate.
There have been multiple reviews of and changes to the Atol scheme in that time, a major change to the PTRs and ongoing changes to wider consumer protection law, all against the backdrop of an industry operating in a global environment reliant on people and businesses across the world to deliver to customers, and in a world that throws up continual challenges – hurricanes, the ash cloud, Covid-19, 9/11, Brexit, war.
The seminar has provided a forum for discussing these issues and this year’s event is no exception. In a packed two-day agenda, leading travel law experts will join speakers from the CAA, the Competition and Markets Authority and the Department for Business & Trade to guide delegates through the complex legal and regulatory developments.
We’ll cover the scope, liabilities and responsibilities of the plans for PTR and Atol reform, the latest case law and litigation, the continuing impact of Brexit on travel companies and customers, increased passenger rights, and the future of financial protection.
A highlight of this year’s event is sure to be the popular case law update from Sarah Prager, who has been appointed King’s Counsel, as well as our session looking ahead to the next 25 years of travel claims to help delegates prepare for the issues that will affect their company liabilities.
I started chairing the seminar in 2005 and it’s a real privilege to work with the great and the good of the travel law world, who are all so generous with their time and expertise. Over the years they have created a real sense of community where everyone helps each other succeed in what is a most challenging and complex yet fundamentally wonderful industry that we are lucky to be a part of.
Abta’s 25thTravel Law Seminar will take place on May 10-11 at Deloitte’s office in central London. Tickets available at abta.com/events.