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ABTA must bypass Westminster and look to Brussels
ABTA must bypass the UK government and go straight to the European Commission over the issue of protection, chairman Justin Fleming told convention delegates.
“The government is clearly not interested in bringing in the protection that we all want, so we need to lobby Brussels which is currently looking at reviving the outdated Package Travel Directive,” he said.
“We have to work very hard to ensure that we get out of that a proper, new directive which provides protection and repatriation if a company fails, that is funded by a simple levy system and handled by one body.”
He said once this is achieved, ABTA and other associations can divest themselves and focus on being a lobbying force.
“We will then be in a much better position to be a trade association and to build one common interest lobbying association.”
By Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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