Published on : Friday, May 8, 2020
Considering the current crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic,ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer has reiterated a call for the government to provide guidance on customer refunds.
Earlier, Tanzer had urged the customers to support travel agents, by taking vouchers or rebooking holidays instead of demanding cash refunds.
The law is however clear that holidaymakers are entitled to a cash refund but Tanzer argued travel agents risked being overwhelmed if they are forced to comply.
Giving evidence to the House of Commons transport committee, Tanzer said that the coronavirus crisis has meant that hundreds of thousands of package holidays have been simultaneously cancelled.
But many customers are rebooking their holidays for a future date, some would prefer a refund, which is their right under package travel regulations.
The regulations were never designed for a crisis of this nature and scale and many businesses are unable to deliver immediate refunds.
Tour operators have not received money back from suppliers like airlines and hotels and are unable to meet a 14-day window for refunding a package holiday, and have therefore been asking customers for more time.
Since the start of the coronavirus crisis,ABTA has been urging the UK government to provide guidance on refunds.
Last week the Competition & Markets Authority launched an investigation into the matter.
Tanzer said that if the government is unable or unwilling to act or provide guidance on the 14-day window for refunds, then it will need to explore other options or face the inevitable failure of these businesses.
An industry-wide collapse of travel agents and tour operators would be the worst possible outcome for these businesses and their staff, for their customers who would have to wait many months for refunds along with the UK taxpayer.