ABTA news and holiday advice

Abta holiday destinations

Posted on December 19th, 2007 in ABTA, Travel advice ABTA, holidays, package holidays, top holiday destinations, top ten

Spain holidays will continue to be the number one cheap holiday destination of choice, for Brits in 2008, according to ABTA.

Early holiday bookings to Portugal and Turkey doing particularly well for 2008, according to ABTA as it released an end of year set of holiday trends.

Almost 70 million cheap holidays abroad were taken by UK holiday makers in 2007 and while trips to Europe have broadly stayed the same, travel to the US rose by 3% while the biggest growth is in long haul travel, up by about 10%.

Top Destination Holidays for 2008 include China with the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing; Singapore, which will host the first Formula 1 night race on September 28; and Australia, due to blockbuster films and sporting events such as the Rugby League World Cup in October.

Other places highlighted include Colombia due to improved political stability combined with the release of Mike Newell’s film of Gabriel Garcia Maquez’s novel Love in the Time of Cholera, which has been filmed in Cartagena, widely thought of as the most beautiful city in South America.

But ABTA cautioned: “Although Colombia’s has many stunning areas, not all of its problems have been resolved and it is important for anyone planning a trip to keen a close watch on the Foreign Office’s travel advice.”

Package holiday guidance

Posted on December 14th, 2007 in ABTA, Travel advice ABTA, package holiday, travel

ABTA and the Federation of Tour Operators have criticised the Government for failing to meet its Christmas deadline to provide clear guidance on what constitutes a package holiday.

The final ruling on what legally comprises a package is being handled by the newly formed Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, which had said it would make an announcement before Christmas. However, it has confirmed this is now postponed until the new year.

With the peak selling season starting in just over a fortnight, ABTA head of policy and communications David Marshall said the trade was still in limbo thanks to the lack of a definitive ruling.

Gatwick and Heathrow airport charges

Posted on October 3rd, 2007 in ABTA 505, gatwick, heathrow

Special travel Report: Charges to airlines using Heathrow and Gatwick should rise at higher levels than those recommended by industry regulator the Civil Aviation Authority.

 Holidays and flights will become more expensive from these Airports

The Competition Commission also found that the airports, in failing to manage security queuing and queue times to avoid unacceptable delays to passengers, crew and flights, have “acted against the public interest”.

The Commission has proposed that these effects can be remedied through a broadening and strengthening of existing service quality regulations.

The CAA cannot reject a public interest finding made by the Commission and will be making proposals that remedy the adverse effects of the airports’ conduct.

The suggestion to raise charges has come from the Competition Commission and is separate to a wider review of BAA-owned UK airports including Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted.

Abta review of Eu package regulations

Posted on October 3rd, 2007 in ABTA ABTA, travel regulations

A European directive from 1990 which regulates package holidays should be scrapped or re-written to protect all travellers, ABTA is urging.

The travel industry trade body says the EU Package Directive must cover consumers regardless of whether they book a holiday package or not.

ABTA claims that there is a “stark imbalance” as to who has to provide refunds for pre-payments in the event of a travel company failure.

All travel suppliers including providers of transport services should be subject to this regulation, the association says.