Tour operators and agents have lambasted the Government for misleading British consumers over ‘rip-off’ card charges.
The Association of Independent Tour Operators says information given to the British public wrongly accuses travel companies of ripping off customers and of profiteering from the charges.
Operators also accuse the Government of taking the credit for a ban on card fees, which is actually a directive from Europe.
AITO chairman Derek Moore has fiercely criticised a press release issued by the Government about the removal of card fees, saying it had the ‘hallmark of tabloid newspapers and not of a responsible Government’.
"How on earth can the Government claim any moral high ground in respect of fairness and transparency when it totally ignores the basic facts?" he said.
Moore argued that the fee existing system is completely transparent and allows consumers to choose the least-costly payment option.
He hit out at claims in the Government press release that all charges levied by the travel industry are a profit centre.
"This is both libellous and incorrect," he said.
"There are few if any companies within the specialist tour operator and independent travel agency sectors that charge a fee of more than 2% to 2.5% for payment made by credit card – and such fees simply recoup the charges made by the banks for handling the transactions.
"The Gov.UK press release totally ignores the fact that it is the banking sector that imposes these charges – not the tour operators and travel agents which are being wrongly criticised."
And he pointed out that the Government is taking credit where credit is not due.
"This is not an initiative of the UK Government; it emanates from the EU in the form of a Directive from Brussels. The UK Government had no part in its inception and cannot claim any such supposed credit."
Moore said a ban on card fees means operators will be forced to increase their prices across the board.
"As we have often told Government, the travel industry works on wafer-thin margins," he said.
"For example, the inability of modestly-sized travel agents, on fixed commission levels, to recoup the 2% to 2.5% card fee charged by the banks could see a 20% reduction in their profitability.
"The Government claims to be helping families with the cost of living but is in fact encouraging our big-business banking industry to lead their customers into debt, which will bring the banks huge monthly interest fee income. This is robbing poor-man Peter to pay fat-cat Paul, to put it mildly.
"If the Government really seeks to lower the cost to the consumer when paying by credit card, then it should address its concerns to the banking sector, and not to honest independent businesses such as AITO’s specialist agents and tour operators."
