Abta has updated its website to make it simpler for consumers to search for individual travel agency branches.
Previously, only the head offices of companies holding the Abta number would appear in a search rather than the separate branches or consortia members.
Now, if a search is made on the Abta website’s member search facility, the agency members of, for example, Hays Travel Independence Group or Advantage Travel Partnership’s managed services division will be returned.
In total there are 647 ‘managed branches’, which are individual agencies operating within Abta’s managed branch network of 439 independent travel businesses.
The largest Abta members operating the managed branch model include Advantage AMS; Brilliant Travel, part of Barrhead Travel Group; Hays Travel Independence Group and The Co-op Travel Consortium, part of The Midcounties Co-operative. Managed branches can either be retailers, such as Miles Morgan Travel, Arundel Travel or Polka Dot Travel, or tour operators such as Black Tomato, Perfect Weddings Abroad, or Viva Holidays.
The change is a result of Abta member feedback from a survey, focus groups with members earlier this year and feedback from Council of Regions representatives, including Henbury Travel owner Richard Slater.
Abta said it will take “some time” to update the site with the details of all Abta managed branch members.
But a spokesman said: “The update to the member search on Abta.com means that independent travel agency businesses that operate as part of Abta’s managed branch network are now more prominent when a consumer is trying to find a local Abta member.”