I think we all may be working towards the same end – I listed some ideas on my page at http://www.advantagecruises.co.uk/ Basically, the trade should do more to a)rally round when one its number go under, for the overall benefit of the clients and b) There need sot be some sort of central co-ordination where people can turn to.

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I’m not sure there are any easy answers to this one. You’ve got trade bodies unable to offer full protection any more because that means somone has the ability to bankrupt them overnight (just look at the mess Atol is in to see where protecting travel consumers under the current legislation gets you), firms fighting tooth and nail for any competitive advantage because making an extra few pence per booking isn’t bad on the awful margins in travel, and the Government both uninterested and overly swayed by the likes of BA, which opposes the obvious soution of a single levy on all flights, because it is “too big to fail”.

On this uneven playing field, new ways of distributing online have been exploited by agents, suppliers, operators taking the industry even further down the stack it high, sell it cheap road and further confuse the situation and the end retailer has been keen to “hide” this, not for any particularly malicious motive but complete transparency will a) expose his cut/commission and b) reveal to a cusomer that’s been taught to prize price over value, or service, or indeed financial protection that they might just as easily be able to do it themselves, go direct and save a few more pennies.

I’ve heard it said anyone who took out a really cheap mortgage during the boom years are as much to blame for the financial mess we’re in as the banks who were stupid enough to lend them the money. Of course the industry has a duty to look after all its consumers but sometimes deals genuinley are too good to be true, but there will always be people prepared to take the risk and there will always be firms prepared to take their hard earned cash.

I agree, give people the information on booking about what is and is not protected, mount an awareness campaign about how to ensure you’re holiday is protected and then it’s buyer beware. Those caught out will come on here and complain, some will claim ignorance, but, as ever, that’s no defence. Until this crazy situation of the law protecting only packges is changed it just leaves too many gaping holes that commercial organisations will always look to ride coach and horses through and trade bodies have no power, or even right, to stop them.

Much of the above is already happening, as well as lobbying on changing the law by the likes of Abta, Aito and the big two, but as ever this only really interests the public, and then the government when it all goes horribly wrong.

As for better information, collapses are incedibly complex things. Just getting the wording right to put on a collapsed firm’s last week website took the best part of an afternoon and it was only two senences. The media will therefore always be first with the news because, if they’re doing their job properly they’re waiting for the plug to be pulled before they publish, and of course can do so immediately in the age of the Intenet. Official bodies like Abta and the CAA simply can’t pre-empt in such a way and even if they know a firm is struggling, can’t say or confirm anything until it is officially involved, and that’s usually after the administrators have been called in and the directors have accepted defeat. Only then do the details of that company’s business start to become clear. By that time you’ve got 30 posts.

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@ Lee

I totally disagree with your comment about bankrupting protection bodies. With regards ATOL it comes down to Lack of Government commitment after all it was the 80′s when ATOL ran out of money, so the travel industry said simple add a pound to all bookings (Your talking millions of pounds each year into the fund). If that had been done when the people who managed the license (CAA) the people who used the license (Travel Company’s) and the public representative bodies asked for it the fund would have 100′s millions in it now and no one could bring it down (not even the top 4 at the same time). Basically like ABTA was before Government took away it’s mandate in 1992. But no it took 20 years of lobbying by everyone before the government moved, yet in the mean time they been happy to take APD tax off all travelers for nothing.

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Darren Yes this is a government rant. Not this Government all.

Travel & Tourism is one of the largest employers (some the largest, only Government beats us) and tax payers in the country so in Government we are represented by:-

The Department For Sport.

Is any wonder the travel and tourism industry is in such a mess?

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i agree entirely with Lee on the role of the media in providing news and information when a company collapses.

Darren, your line: “Travel consumers should not have to find out about the collapse from the media, more needs to be done to provide up-to-date information, and quicker.”

how do you propose that consumers find out, then?

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@Nick to be fair to Lee, all he said was “You’ve got trade bodies unable to offer full protection any more because that means somone has the ability to bankrupt them overnight”. That’s just the result of the process you described. Don’t think Lee is endorsing it.

In terms of keeping the fund healthy, what’s your take on the idea of playing catch-up now with a £3 levy? We expected loads of comments and letters when we ran that story, but everything was oddly quiet. I think few expect the consultation on extending the scheme (coming this autumn, apparently) to go anywhere – increasing the charge is after all the path of least resistance.

On government involvement: traditionally government cares more about inbound tourism than about Brits travelling abroad (unless a. something goes wrong or b. said Brits start smashing abroad to pieces).

The real question is how do all of us – trade media, mainstream media, corporates, agents, ops, bloggers, consumers – go about reaching a consensus and putting it across?

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Nathan, sorry missed your comment.

1. No protection body can collapsed like suggest because the likes of ABTA etc are well funded and the CAA is a government body so would require the government to collapse. What was happening was a lot of Fraud and the protection bodies stopped covering that.

2. As to the £3 Levey… well think most when they read your paper thought the same as me…. We told you so! Plus what good is it to complain… like Brown and Co. want to listen to us. We been shouting for years, they have there ear plugs firmly embedded now. Plus we do want to protect the customer. Much more interesting is reading Maureen’s week

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Generally as well Lee is right about the Government listening to airlines… as to BA etc being to big to fail… wasn’t Pan Am and TWA?

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