Dot coms to berate ABTA advert at Kos

Report by Louise Longman

INTERNET travel companies are set to launch an attack on ABTA during its convention in Kos next Friday, following the association’s controversial “Don’t be dot conned” advert.

The advert was launched earlier this month to warn the public of the dangers of booking travel with unregulated Web firms.

But the image of an SOS message in a bottle and the “Don’t be dot conned” headline has angered Internet travel companies.

Virgin.com travel deputy managing director Ed Sims said: “ABTA might just as well run a campaign that says don’t book on-line. I am in favour of a campaign that supports ABTA but I don’t understand why one distribution channel has been singled out.”

Sims said he would use the ABTA conference as a platform to air his views.