NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW 4
Pirie returns as boss of bespoke online operator
Lucy Huxley
lucy.huxley@
travelweekly.co.uk
Former Travel Republic boss Kane Pirie, who famously won a landmark court case brought by the CAA over an alleged breach of Atol rules in 2009, has returned to travel after four years away with a new bespoke online operator.
Vivid Travel will launch in
September selling both direct and via luxury agents. It has joined Abta and has a full Atol licence.
5 Government starts PTD consultation
Ian Taylor
ian.taylor@travelweekly.co.uk
The government finally published proposals for implementing the Package Travel Directive (PTD) on Monday, with the Department for Business (BEIS) launching a six‑week consultation and clarifying an important point.
The new regulations will apply
to holidays booked after the new regulations come into force on July 1, 2018, and not to departures from that date. However, travel businesses
really need to see the draft regulations with only 10 months left to comply. Abta noted: “We need to better understand how the government proposes translating these principles into UK law and have yet to see the draft wording for the regulations. Businesses need time to make any changes. We need the government to move swiftly.” The consultation makes clear
the government intends to cut and paste the PTD into UK law, stating: “In general, provisions will appear in UK regulations as set out in the directive.” It proposes the creation of a new
6
travelweekly.co.uk 17 August 2017
“Businesses need time to make changes. We need the government to move swiftly”
“UK register listing organisers’ insolvency arrangements”. But it insists: “We intend
to impose minimal additional burdens on business.” The consultation confirms
ministers “will continue to consider protection for flight-only tickets” as part of long-term reforms to the Atol scheme. The
government has already confirmed it will align the existing Atol scheme with the PTD through the Atol Bill announced in June. It also sets out the government’s
intentions in the “few areas where the UK has flexibility”. On non-flight packages, it notes:
“We propose to continue the current regime with broadened scope” and “to extend the same regime to cover non-flight Linked Travel Arrangements (LTAs)”. BEIS suggests the regulations
will cover “an extra 22% of holidays” in total. Businesses have until
September 25 to respond. Vivid will sell bespoke holidays
that “combine a number of phases”, according to managing director and co-founder Pirie. He told Travel Weekly: “Our mission is to help people have more interesting holidays. Currently, people are not getting the most out of their holidays. “I was on holiday in Tenerife
and saw people constantly on their phones, doing exactly what they might be doing on the commute to work, except in a bikini by a pool. “We will offer different phases
providing a variety of experiences.” Pirie said a Vivid Travel holiday
might combine a number of phases, such as beach, touring, city, adventure, activity or safari. Its website, at
vivid.travel, will
offer example itineraries, but customers and agents will call to speak to a ‘travel designer’ who will create tailor-made holidays. A dedicated agent phone line
and trade section of the site will be available by next month, and Pirie said agents would be paid “great commissions”.
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Kane Pirie says Vivid Travel will pay ‘great
commissions’
Pirie, whose Vivid co-founder
is former Travel Republic IT director Adam Gill, said: “In the same way that we used technology at Travel Republic to change the dynamics of short-haul beach holidays, so our software at Vivid will transform luxury long-haul holidays.” Vivid already has 15 staff at
offices in Guildford and Clapham Junction and is recruiting for a further 10, including travel designers and software developers, to join by the end of the year.
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