Pioneering tour operator and Aito co-founder Colin Murison Small dies aged 93
Harry KembleColin Murison Small, who invited a disorganised group of tour operators to a meeting in a London pub nearly 50 years ago that ultimately led to the creation of Aito, has died aged 93.
His son, Alex, described his dad as “the tour operator who you’ve never heard of – but also the man to whom tour operators owe a huge debt of gratitude”.
Following the collapse of Court Line Holidays in 1975, Murison Small decided to gather rival firms to work out how smaller tour operators, such as his own eponymously named Murison Small, could obtain a tour operator’s licence at that time.
Back then, tour operators – regardless of their size – were required to provide significant financial bonds to ensure all their holidaymakers, in the event of a company failure, could return home and repayments could be made to customers who had not yet travelled.
The decision by the government and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to launch the Air Travel Reserve Fund – now known as the Air Travel Trust – caused dismay among the smaller operators who struggled to foot the bill.
From this pub meeting, which Murison Small arranged, the Association of Independent Tour Operators (Aito), the Specialist Travel Association, was formed in 1976. The association provided the bond, backed by all the businesses present in the pub, to enable them to operate.
Murison Small, who, according to his son, had “a very strong moral compass and a desire to fight for the rights of less well off”, became Aito’s first chair.
Before his passing, Derek Moore, an Aito chair to-be who died in January 2023, recalled the circumstances which led to the formation of Aito. “Aito was started in April 1976 with just 20 members,” he said.
“The main aim then was to achieve a realistic and fair level of bonding in order to discourage reckless trading and avoid the risk of a drain on the Air Travel Reserve fund by unscrupulous or incompetent tour operators.”
Helping to set up Aito was not the only achievement Murison Small can take credit for, though.
His company, Murison Small (later called Small World) was the first company to employ chalet hosts whose job was to cook and make chalet accommodation feel like a home for groups.
The chalet host concept is said to have begun 66 years ago, when Murison Small travelled with friends to Yugoslavia.
Two of the party were unemployed, so it was decided among the group these two out-of-work individuals would cook in exchange for food and accommodation.
After deciding that this was a great business idea, Murison Small declared he would launch a chalet operator firm when they got home.
The first chalet party was held in Grindelwald, Switzerland, in the 1958/59 season, while the summer villa party holidays started in the Spanish town of Blanes in 1959.
‘The Martian Factor’
Although he is credited for the genesis of the chalet party holiday, Murison Small fostered a deep love for Greece and its islands after he travelled to Rhodes in the early 1960s.
In the following years, Murison Small continuously travelled to Greece each year, but became increasingly upset that the country he had discovered was being “over-developed, with more and more all-inclusive hotels that ruin local economies”.
In 1985, he parted company with Small World and set up some new ventures, such as Hidden Greece, which marked every destination out of 10.
Murison Small called this system “The Martian Factor”, meaning the higher the score, the more likely you were to meet other Brits in the destination.
He is survived by his three children and seven grandchildren. His funeral will be held on 7 March at Salisbury Crematorium.
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