nd hopes for airline insolvency review. Ian Taylor reports from London
‘PTR delay leaves trade little time to make changes’
The government delay in issuing new draft Package Travel Regulations (PTRs) risks leaving too little time for businesses to change booking conditions and systems by the July 1 deadline.
A consultation on the
draft regulations, which will substantially extend the definition of a package holiday, was supposed to have been published last year. CAA head of Atol Andy Cohen said last week that the industry should new see the regulations “by the middle of February”, with a consultation of “six to eight weeks”. Cohen told the Travlaw annual
Big Tent Event in London: “You can [also] expect to see both the Department for Transport consultation on the new Atol regulations and the CAA consultation on standard terms in the next month.” The Department for Business is
responsible for the PTRs and the De- partment for Transport for the Atol scheme, which the CAA oversees.
Abta head of legal affairs Simon Bunce said: “It doesn’t give us very long to get everything in place. That is a problem. EU member states were supposed to have the regulations in place by January 1. What if we don’t come in by July 1?” Cohen insisted: “We will.” But Bunce said: “If we don’t, the
government will be liable for any losses customers suffer as a result of not having the new protections.” Bunce argued: “We’ve had this
directive since 2015. The problem is it’s not entirely clear what the regulations are going to say. Until we have them, you can’t get booking conditions and systems in place. It’s the same with standard terms. “If you’re a travel agent, there could be a huge change, but we can’t work out the final detail until we get the regulations.” The new regulations will extend
package liabilities to bookings currently deemed Flight-Plus. On the Beach head of legal
Kirsteen Bickerstaff said: “We assume this will be in law by July 1
COHEN: Confident regulations will be in place by July 1
and we’ll be selling packages. The issue is, not everyone in the supply chain is where we are. We contract 70% of our own hotels. We have challenges around the remaining 30% of rooms we contract through bed banks. We’re a big company. We’ll be fine. [But] I have serious concerns about other providers.” Laura Anderton, head of legal
at Travel Counsellors, agreed saying: “We’re ready. We do a lot of Flight-Plus, which will change, but we’re already an organiser. “We’re just going to be one on a bigger scale. The disappointing thing is the uncertainty.” Industry accountant Chris Photi
of White Hart Associates said: “What people are after is basic guidance and they aren’t going to get that until April-May.”
PEAKS WATCH Latest GfK bookings data
SUMMER 2018
Week to January 13 % change in passengers booked on comparable week 2017
7%
Change in average selling price (ASP)
£12
Season to date % change in passengers booked year on year
4%
Change in ASP £32
All-inclusive bookings Family bookings Turkey Spain
6% 5%
78% -4%
WINTER 2017-18
Week to January 13 % change in passengers booked on comparable week 2017
5%
Season to date % change in passengers booked year on year
4%
Change in ASP £51
‘Many companies in denial about need to make changes’
The delay in guidance on the new package regulations is fuelling “a denial” of the need to make changes among some companies. Kirsteen Bickerstaff, On the Beach head of legal, told
the Travlaw event: “The fact there has been this delay [means] a lot of people are in denial, thinking ‘We’re leaving the EU, why are we implementing this?’.” Bickerstaff forecast: “There will be failures.
The insurance costs [for package protection] are astronomical. The gastric illness issue is still not sorted. There is the issue of credit card fees and the PTD [on top].
Kirsteen Bickerstaff: ‘There will be failures’
A lot of people who will suddenly be travel organisers are not set up to deal with it. You’re going to have huge insurance excesses [on claims] before insurers step up.” Lawyer Luke Golding of Travlaw agreed. He said:
“There are a lot of companies in the denial stage. While the government did say the approach would largely be to cut and paste [the Package Travel Directive into the UK regulations], that is not enough certainty.” Abta head of legal affairs Simon Bunce said: “A lot of people are in the fatigue stage. They have heard about this for years. They want to know when it is out.”
25 January 2018
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