Wellings voted in as ABTA president

PERSONAL Service Travel director Martin Wellings has beaten Majestic Travel's Steven Freudmann to be elected ABTA interim president in the second round of voting.

Wellings and Freudmann, who was president from 1997 to 2000, tied in the first ballot, following the resignation of former president John Harding after Travelscene's collapse.

Wellings pledged to lobby for a mandatory document detailing the extent of bonding cover to be issued to all holidaymakers at the time of booking.

Freudmann, more controversially, said he planned to scrap ABTA's regional structure and repalce it with a more central role for consortia.

The result of a second ballot was announced today (Monday). Wellings assumes the role with immediate effect and will chair his first board meeting tomorrow (Tuesday). The interim president's term will run until the next ABTA AGM in April 2005.