US arrivals counting data hitch


Package Travel Regs deadline looms


EU regulations will cover online sellers


T


he UK travel industry is gearing up to comply with changes to the European Union Package


Travel Regulations (PTR), which come into force on July 1.


The industry has had little more than two months to prepare after the UK government published its view of how the new rules should be interpreted only in April.


The new rules are the first since the consumer protection measures were introduced in 1992 and are a response to changes in the industry with the emergence of budget airlines and online travel sellers. From July 1, there will be six definitions of what makes up a package sale, all of which include the purchase of at least two travel services. A new category of bookings, known as Linked Travel Arrangements (LTAs), is added for sales when individual non-licensable travel services are selected and paid for separately, something that used to fall short of being a package. LTAs will be outside the regular UK consumer protection scheme covered


by Atol (Air Travel Organisers Licence) and so must be covered instead by bonding, insurance or a trust account. The PTR places greater


responsibility on travel sellers if things go wrong. This could mean, for example, travel agents having to agree what the PTR describes as an “appropriate price reduction” as compensation and having to offer support “without undue delay”. Under the new rules, consumers also gain the right to cancel if there are “unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances occurring at the place of destination or its immediate vicinity” provided this impacts the “performance of the package” or “carriage of passengers” to the destination.


Farina Azam, partner and head of


commercial at specialist Travlaw, said new booking conditions and liabilities following extraordinary circumstances should be a concern for the industry. “Overall, there will be a far greater emphasis on agents taking responsibility for the whole package, rather than pushing back any issues with certain elements to suppliers,” she said.


Sustainable Tourism Tax hike for Balearics


S


pain’s Balearic Islands have increased their Sustainable Tourism Tax. Visitors between May and October will now pay up to €4 per adult per day with the rate varying dependant on time of year and accommodation type. Since its introduction, in 2016, the tariff had previously been on a scale up to €2. Cruise passengers will meanwhile pay €2 per day as a flat rate, when previously they paid only if they were ashore over 12 hours. Last year, the tax raised €64 million, which was spent on 70 sustainability projects. The tourist board said the money has helped fund water management plus “projects to preserve the local heritage and environment and substantially reduce the negative impact of tourism to create a more long-term and sustainable tourism destination”.


6 wtm insights summer 2018 wtm.com


Tariff is helping to “reduce the negative impact of tourism” on the Balearic Islands


the end of the year. Officials are recalculating statistics after an estimated 4.5 million arrivals were incorrectly logged by US Customs and Border Protection, leading the National Travel and Tourism Office to suspend the release of data.


A The NTTO believes a “meaningful


and increasing number” of non-US citizens travelling on visas to the US were incorrectly categorised as US residents, meaning that visitor arrivals figures for 2017 are lower than they should be. Visitors arriving into airports and filling out their details at automated kiosks were logged as US residents if they left the “Country of Residence” field blank.


Roger Dow: NTTO data “wasn’t


making sense”


technical hitch means the US may not have accurate tourist arrivals figures until


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