A report in the Sun Herald last weekend on the disappearance of Pack N Go agency owner Taha Baghdadi may refer to his actions in 2014, but the ramifications for the travel industry are very current.
TravelManagers chairman Barry Mayo, long time activist for better consumer protection since the demise of the TCF, said the comments made by NSW Fair Trading Commissioner Rod Stowe that that “consumers could protect themselves from dodgy travel agents by checking they belonged to the Australian Federation of Travel Agents’ travel accreditation scheme” were misleading.
“Booking travel through an ATAS accredited agent is not a guarantee of being protected against financial loss. ATAS accreditation, by itself, affords no consumer protection against an agent’s failure to account properly for client funds,” said Mayo.
He has once again called on the government to provide a form of consumer protection against travel intermediary insolvency.
“It can no longer be disputed that consumer losses now being experienced are as a direct result of state governments disbanding the TCF without first ensuring it was replaced with an alternative form of reliable universal consumer protection.
“State governments need to acknowledge these consumer losses are not going to cease and recognise that an accreditation scheme without consumer compensation is of little value from both consumer and industry perspectives.”
He wants the government to move quickly to address the issue and insists that the $23 million dollars of TCF funds that are still intact should be used for this purpose.
“Immediate steps need to be taken to ensure these funds are used to reinstate a more robust financial oversight of the industry and provision of consumer protection,” said Mayo.
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