Andy Cooper, director general of the Federation of Tour operators, came into tto TW Towers today to talk ABTA merger.
We managed to get a video clip of Andy talking through what the merger means for operators and agents.
Surprise, surprise, Andy said the move was not motivated by financial considerations, which is exactly what TW's Ian Taylor highlighted in his analysis as being a reason for it.
Martin Couzins, online editor
Congrats to ABTA for being named a business superbrand in a poll of leading business brands.
ABTA demonstrated quality, reliability and distinction, according to the judges - exactly what the UK travel trade needs from its representative body.
Martin Couzins, online editor
The Times has published a piece on the 13 best travel scams. There are some usual suspects in this list. Travel Weekly ran a Stamp out Fraud campaign with ABTA last year which highlighted the scale of the problem for travel professionals.
For example, in 2006 cardholder-not-present fraud rose by 16% to £212.6 million, while card fraud against the travel industry increased by £800,000 to £24.1 million.
Fraud is a big problem in the industry - both for consumers and travel companies.
Martin Couzins, online editor
Just had a chat with Andy Cooper at the Federation of Tour Operators and asked him when ABTA and the FTO will merge (I always ask when I see him). The answer: he batted away the question. He always does that. But he did liken the ABTA/FTO situation to a swingometer and this week it is pointing more towards a merger. Maybe we should start an ABTA/FTO merger-ometer.
Martin Couzins, online editor
Price transparency is a big issue in travel. More often than not, what you see is not what you get. I was at the Travolution Question Time event last night and one of the panel pointed out that trust in offline travel sales had been eroded because of confusion around pricing (not sure online is guilt free here).
This issue is picked up today by Darren at Travel Rants who is running a poll on booking terms and conditions. Be interesting to see the results, although I'm pretty sure which way it will go.
When the 2012 Olympics recently produced a new logo it did so - as you'll remember - cheaply and to much critical acclaim.
Not to be outdone, Abta, the travel association – nee Association of British Travel Agents - has rebranded itself too.
Chief executive Mark Tanzer told Travel Weekly that the identity reflected the organisational changes that have taken place at Newman Street.
We will have to wait and see what Abta members and travel professionals up and down the land think of the ‘refreshing and contemporary design’.
Meanwhile, we have a quiz. Can you guess how much Abta paid for the new look?
First right answer in the comments section wins a bottle of wine...
Martin Couzins, online editor
The Civil Aviation Authority is asking for the trade's input on reform of ATOL bonding, which it proposes replacing with a £1-per-passenger levy.
We want to use this post as a forum for your comments.
Take a look at Ian Taylor's backgrounder in this week's Travel Weekly and the CAA's consultation document, then use the comments form to leave your feedback. For example:
Alternatively, email your ideas to travel.weekly@rbi.co.uk.
The Association of British Travel Agents has long been known by its acronymn ABTA, but this is soon to become official according to reports of changes apparently being proposed by the association’s board.
If the changes are given the go-ahead the association will become known simply as Abta, and, just as BAA lost any reference to airports when it ditched the longhand version of its name, will cease to refer directly to travel agents.
But this is just one of many changes the association is proposing, the most fundamental of which will see agent representation at board level significantly reduced as ABTA strives to transform itself into the association that represents the entire travel industry.
Other changes include opening up membership to airlines, ferry operators and accommodation-only suppliers.
Obviously, we're interested to hear what you think of all this:
Leave a comment on this post, or email us if you'd like your comments to appear on next week's letters page.
Lee Hayhurst, acting news editor
Here I am being interviewed for ITV Wales current affairs programme Wales This Week for a feature which includes the failure of ABTA travel agency Mossley Travel.
The show is examining the business dealings of one of Mossley Travel’s former owners and includes details of the agency finances and 2003 failure.
I was asked to appear to clarify the role ABTA plays when one of its agency members ceases trading.
The show aired last night [Monday 11th December] at 8pm.
Paul Nelson, reporter
The travel industry needs to work harder at lobbying, according to a story that we recently carried on travelweekly.co.uk.
The Travel Weekly Blog can't help with that (at least not right now...) but here's a natty way of keeping up with travel-related speeches and debates in the Houses of Parliament.
Head to Theyworkforyou.com, a site which is designed to keep us in touch with what our MPs are up to. A noble enough goal in itself, but the site also features - here's the good bit - a keyword-driven email alert service.
That means you can sign up, register for keywords like 'travel' or 'tourism', and read what the Commons and the Lords are saying about the industry from the comfort of your inbox. It's free, and all you need to disclose is your email address.
We're going to sign up here and see how useful the service is, so look out for updates. If you try it too we'd be interested to hear your thoughts.
Nathan Midgley, travelweekly.co.uk
