Advantage confident package travel and Atol reforms will deliver better rules
James ChappleThe Advantage Travel Partnership is confident plans to reform the UK’s package travel rules and Atol regulations will create a better operational environment for agents and tour operators – one that will ultimately result in better holidays for their clients.
Paul Nunn, Advantage’s chief operating officer, ran through the latest developments in the CAA’s progress towards reforming the Atol scheme and the Department for Business and Trade’s (DBT) work on the UK’s Package Travel Regulations at the 2024 Advantage conference in Cancun.
Nunn told delegates it was his belief that a new variable Atol protection contribution was likely and that proposed new rules around segregation of client monies would likely be "watered down".
"There are a couple of pretty big consultations going on at the moment – they really do impact everyone in the room," continued Nunn, who insisted the regulators, the DBT in particular, were keen to change the regulations to better suit travel businesses "and help them trade better".
"Change is coming," Nunn warned. "And it will impact all of us. Some more than others. We have to push for a balanced approach – fingers crossed the regulators are listening and it won’t be as bad as feared."
He took aim at the timing of the CAA’s decision in April 2021 to start reviewing the Atol regulations while the industry was still reeling from the impacts of the first year of the pandemic, describing it as "a bit ridiculous".
He also criticised the requirement under the current Package Travel Regulations for agents and operators to provide specific details of clients’ Atol arrangements at point of sale. "You and your clients have probably never read the information you’re required to provide. It’s a bit of a nonsense."
In terms of a timeframe on delivery of the new Atol regulations and revised PTRs, Nunn said: "My prediction is 2026, and that Atol changes will be rolled out gradually. In terms of PTRs, there will definitely be changes, and I think they will be for the better."
He added: "When the consultations do come, give them an eyeball – you can impact the outcome."
’Lessons from the pandemic have to be learned’
Besides segregation of client monies and variable APC, Nunn identified another three areas where agents and the wider travel trade can expect regulatory change – the removal of Linked Travel Arrangements (LTAs); right of address against supply chain; and flexible refund requirements.
- On variable APC, Nunn said there were several ways this could be applied, highlighting how the contribution – currently set at a flat £2.50 per Atol protected seat – could in future be based on the type of holiday, the destination and also the value.
- Nunn said he expected LTAs, introduced in the 2018 PTRs to capture additional elements booked via airline click-throughs, to be scrapped. "They’re not really being used all that much," he told delegates, adding it was likely the scope of "packages" would be extended to capture LTAs.
- Nunn said agents and operators would likely gain greater right of supply chain address in those instances where a holiday has to be changed or cancelled owing to factors such as airline scheduling. "The aim is to give package operators a bit more clout to get client money back," he told delegates.
- On flexible refund requirements, Nunn predicted that the current 14-day rule – which caused untold grief to agents and operators during the pandemic and sparked a tidal wave of credit chargebacks – could be softened. "Lessons from the pandemic have to be learned," he said. "There is no reason why, in certain circumstances, the government shouldn’t have the power to change that 14 days and relieve some of the pressure on travel businesses."
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