NEWS


Agents happy to be back amid a ‘busy’ return to business


Samantha Mayling


Agencies reported a positive first day back as non-essential shops reopened in England and Wales on Monday – with queues outside some branches. Eight Barrhead Travel stores


in England opened, with Scottish branches to follow at the end of April. Strategic business director Nicki


Tempest-Mitchell said: “The towns feel busy. The nervousness has gone; it’s elation and agents are happy to be back with colleagues.” Paul Waters, retail director at


24-branch Premier Travel, said: “There


is an air of positivity. It’s a massive positive for staff. In one branch, they were brought prosecco as a thank you.” Fred Olsen Travel head of


commercial Paul Hardwick said business was “quite positive” at the agency’s 14 branches but bookings were “not massively up”. Agents reported most bookings


were for 2022 or were rebookings, with customers asking about testing and the new traffic light system. Carol Hunter, branch manager at


Kyle Travel Worldchoice in Barnard Castle, made three bookings: UK holidays with Alfa Travel and a Saga UK cruise. She said most clients were


60-plus, noting: “The consensus was they were only looking at travelling in the UK and Channel Islands this year, but are happy to consider travelling abroad in 2022.” At Worldchoice Travel in Wigan,


manager Gill Blundell said there had been a queue to get in. Six bookings were confirmed on Monday and a further three on Tuesday morning. “It’s manic, like a peaks,” she said.


“Some who moved coach holidays to next year now want to go this year as they’ve been vaccinated. They’re desperate to get away.”


Barrhead Travel’s store in Birkenhead on Monday


Midcounties Co-operative Travel


is in the process of rebranding its agencies from Co-operative Travel to Your Co-op Travel. Peter Bruno, manager at its Walsall and Bloxwich stores, said branches were busy with bookings, amendments and currency. “Regular customers brought us


chocolates,” he said. “It feels like we were missed. It felt like a sale day.” Adele Croft, branch manager at


Colchester Travel in Billericay, said she was “buzzing” after securing a £104,000 Cunard world cruise booking over the phone.


Auditor: CAA is insisting on trusts Ian Taylor


A leading industry auditor has reported the CAA is insisting large tour operators move to trust arrangements as Atol-holders renew their licences. But the claim has been denied by other leading industry figures. Elman Wall head of audit Ian


Palmer forecast trust accounts would become “standard” for large Atol-holders by the time of the September licence renewal. Speaking at an Elman Wall


industry webinar last week, Palmer said: “The big news is that for larger Atol-holders, [with protected business] in excess of £20 million a year, the CAA has been insisting on


travelweekly.co.uk


an escrow [trust] account. This is quite a big change.” He told the webinar: “We’re seeing


this kick in for larger Atol-holders and we expect it will be standard by the September Atol renewal.” Palmer suggested: “It is inevitable


the CAA will start to apply it to smaller Atol-holders next, but we don’t know when.” However, Association of Atol


Companies legal advisor Alan Bowen said: “I’m aware of companies that have renewed and were not asked for a trust account. I think it is misleading.” Another senior industry source


agreed, telling Travel Weekly: “It’s an over-simplification. This is not anything new. The CAA has been


Ian Palmer


difficult to comply with. But it is not fundamentally a new thing.” The CAA reported on the March


Atol renewals last week (Travel Weekly, April 8). It is poised to consult the sector on reform of the Atol regime and an expected increase in use of trust arrangements. Speaking on the same webinar,


Abta head of financial services John de Vial said there were “no real great surprises” in the latest renewals and noted the “remarkable” resilience of the sector through the crisis. He said: “We’ve had 24 failures


using a basket of measures for a long time for the larger Atol-holders. Are they pushing trust arrangements and is it causing some ‘noise’? Yes, some businesses are finding it


from an Abta membership of 1,000. Given a year of shutdown, that is extraordinary. The CAA has had 30 failures, most of which overlap with us. That is quite remarkable.”


15 APRIL 2021 7


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