p46-47 letters sep26 23/9/08 16:07 Page 44
your letters
Let’s talk about holidays,
not the end of the world
I may be an adventurous traveller, but I have no
desire to visit the end of the world just yet!
So why is it that as an industry we seem to
Think before you
be doing our best to talk up this undesirable
location rather than focus on some of the
fantastic resorts available in the brochures?
Admittedly times are tough and customers
may be harder to find, but that’s just the reason
why agents and operators should focus on what
dynamic package
they do best: source, package and market
holidays. We need to be there to show people
how to escape from all this doom and gloom.
THE LAST few weeks have shown LET cipal but whether they have any
James Burley director, Holiday & Travel Show the best and worst of the travel
OF THE
TER
form of financial protection at all.
industry but the failure of XL has
WEEK
Abta’s Code of Conduct makes it
also, possibly for the first time, clear that customers should be told
Price of oil has dropped, so stripped bare the reality and diffi- what financial protection exists for
why haven’t fuel surcharges? culties caused by dabbling in dynamic the products being sold, but many seem
TTG has not published one reply to my letter of packaging by agents, both on and off the web. to have discovered to their cost that the agent
August 8 regarding the price of oil and the lack I know many operators and agents worked said nothing. Second, some agents appear to
of adjustment from tour operators and airlines. their socks off to help customers as soon have not passed on any documents from the
Companies concerned are quick enough to as the news broke and the CAA is to be flight operator, making it more difficult, if not
put fuel surcharges up, citing the increase in oil congratulated on the repatriation operation. impossible, to claim on the CAA Atol scheme.
prices, yet the silence is deafening when they Of course, some carriers saw an opportunity And for those agents who actually had their
are asked to justify not dropping them when to make a killing for those yet to travel but own Atol, there is a sudden realisation at the
the price drops. In July oil prices reached $147 maybe they needed the money. true cost of being an operator.
a barrel, but surely a 30% reduction since then However, many customers discovered for I hope this will not have a domino effect,
should have been enough to trigger reductions? the first time that what they thought was a but it looks like many agents will now think
TTG should post the weekly price of oil in the package was actually two halves that could twice before putting packages together.
paper to shame the companies involved. fall apart, leaving them with half a holiday.
Suddenly, many agents are less worried about Alan Bowen.
Allan Ashford Meadway Travel whether the bed bank is the agent or the prin- AGB Associates, Harrow
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46 26.09.2008
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